Congress leader Debabrata Saikia questions Apex Bank manager's authority to disburse Rs 20 crore without approval, demands probe

Assam Congress leader Debabrata Saikia on October 18 came down heavily on the Apex bank authorities for violating RBI's guidelines while disbursing money to one Rajesh Bajaj to the tune of Rs 20 crore.

Addressing the media, Saikia said, "I hope the Assam government will set up a committee to probe into the matter and a complaint should be filed against the Bank's authorities so that starting from them the actual culprits come to the light."

Further, the Congress leader asserted that the system by which the money was disbursed to Rajesh Bajaj, RBI stopped the facility after net banking was introduced.

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"Now the thing is one tea garden owner disposited a self-cheque of Rs 20 crore at a branch of Apex bank to withdraw money...which is totally illegal and the branch manager of any bank does not such power to disburse such huge sum of money," added Saikia.

The Congress leader also claimed that if an amount is more than Rs 1 crore or more, the branch manager has to get permission from the regional manager or from the head office as per the RBI's guidelines.

"Hence whosoever is supervising the banking activities along with the bank's higher authorities without their co-operation, it is not possible to disburse such a huge amount from a branch manager," said Saikia.

Debabrata Saikia also urged Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma to initiate an enquiry into the case and said that his CM Vigilance Cell or Bureau of Economic Offences should own up to the matter.