IDBI Bank discloses fraud of Rs 772 crore, shares fall

IDBI shares fell as much as 3.5 percent to 73.6 rupees by 0512 GMT.

New Delhi: IDBI Bank Ltd has said that fraudulent loans of Rs 772 crore were issued from five of its branches in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, sending its shares lower on Wednesday.

IDBI shares fell as much as 3.5 percent to 73.6 rupees by mid-session, while the index for public sector lenders Nifty PSU Bank index dropped as much as 1.8 percent.

Some of the loans, which were issued during fiscal years 2009-2013 for fish farming businesses, were obtained against fake lease documents of non-existent fish ponds and by inflating the value of collateral, the company said.

The company found major lapses in processing and disbursing the loans by two of its officials. The lender dismissed one of the officials, while the other official had already retired, it said.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), has registered cases for two of the five complaints, relating to branches at Basheerbagh and Guntur, the company said.

The bank said earlier on Tuesday said it has strengthened its internal audit system by initiating a quality assurance audit to make it fall in line with "best practices".

The bank said it has initiated a Quality Assurance Audit (QAA) to further strengthen and enhance its internal audit function and align it with prevailing best practices.

For this purpose, the bank has appointed an external expert who was very much associated with the audit reforms in the PSBs.

The scope of QAA includes review of the internal audit framework pertaining to policies, processes, procedures, reporting structures, formats of the bank and integration thereof with risk based supervision.

It will also review of Branch Risk Rating Framework to ensure that various business risk assessment parameters, criticality, risk weightages and audit observations reflect the risk severity of the branches, in terms of business performance, adherence to the laid down procedures, regulatory compliances etc.

With Agency Inputs