Bangalore: Anwar Manippady renews demand for Rahman Khan's ouster

Daijiworld Media Network – Bangalore (SP)

Bangalore, Apr 12: BJP leader and chairman of Karnataka State Minorities Commission, Anwar Manippady, has renewed his earlier demands for the ouster of union minister for minorities welfare K Rahman Khan from the union cabinet. He has asked the minister to quit the ministry and make himself available for a detailed investigation.

Addressing a press conference here on Wednesday April 10, Manippady alleged that Rahman Khan, who is one of the past presidents of the city-based Amanath Bank, had raised huge loans from the bank in the names of people known to him. Later, these borrowers defaulted in repayment, and both the principal and interest portions of their loans were waived.

As a result, the bank is unable to return the money of its depositors. Thousands of ordinary people, who had faith in the bank and had deposited their life’s savings with Amanath Bank, have nowhere to go now. They are presently allowed to draw a paltry amount of Rs 1,000 from their deposit accounts per month as per Reserve Bank of India (RBI) instructions, because of the misappropriation of the bank’s funds by Khan, Manippady alleged.

Manippady, who had earlier claimed that he has evidence about Khan’s involvement in the scam,  said that even after Khan’s involvement with the fraud came to light, neither the finance ministry at the centre, nor Reserve Bank of India took any steps. He noted that he had complained to the state Lokayukta in December 2012 in this regard, but that there has been no headway in the investigation since then.

Recently, the directors of Amanath Cooperative Bank, which has 12 branches in the city and three elsewhere in the state, had asked its around three lac depositors not to panic. They had expressed confidence that the cap on withdrawal of deposits placed by RBI will be removed soon. “We have requested the registrar of cooperative societies to recommend to RBI to lift the ban on withdrawal. We hope that action in this connection would be taken at the earliest,” they said.

The depositors, however, are a worried lot. They have been making a beeline to the branches of Amanath Bank, seeking to take back their hard earned money. Some customers have already been alleging that loans were given by the bank in the name of fake persons, and hence has not been able to recover them, and that it failed to submit returned as mandated by RBI.  Rahman Khan was the president of this bank between 1998 and 2002.

Reacting to the charges, Rahman Khan agreed that a few loans had indeed been granted by Amanath Bank to his relatives, but insisted that principal amounts had been repaid by these borrowers. He said that the bone of contention has been charging of compound interest on the loans. "Wherever feasible, properties of the defaulters have been impounded. No loans were waived during my period in the bank. The bank is subject to audit by government auditors. RBI has never termed this as a scam," he added.