MADURAI: After an audit report exposed that about 2,000 grams of gold jewels pledged in a branch of the Tamil Nadu State Cooperative and Agricultural Rural Development Bank was fake, the authorities have woken up to prevent such malpractices in future.
As a first step, the officials have proposed to gather financial worthiness among other details about the gold appraisers, who worked in the Primary Agricultural Cooperative Banks (PACBs) on commission basis.
Recently, it came to light that a gold appraiser had allegedly “connived” with a borrower by accepting fake jewels in the bank and released several lakhs as jewel loans in different names over a period of five to six years. The outstanding was arrived at a little over Rs. 25 lakh in the complaint lodged with the police.
“Apart from gathering the financial worthiness, we have also plans to know the antecedents of the appraisers. This would not only give better accountability, but also instil confidence among the customers of the bank about the safety of their valuables,” Joint Registrar (Cooperatives) K.V.S. Kumar told ‘The Hindu' on Sunday.
Any immovable and movable properties in the name of the gold appraisers are being recorded and would be checked independently by the officials.
Encouraging staff
The bank had recently attached the immovable property of the gold appraiser who had indulged in pledging fake jewels in the Krishna Rayar Branch in Madurai, Dr. Kumar said and added that instead of having appraisers on commission basis, “we are encouraging our own staff to become appraisers.”
For this purpose, training is being imparted to the employees.
The PACB authorities are also contemplating shuffling gold appraisers' who are in the same branch for several years.
The PACBs have jewel loans outstanding at Rs. 260 crore, while the seven land development banks (LDB) have issued jewel loans to the extent of Rs. 24 crore, he added.
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