Former HC Judge M F Saldanha terms HSBC case malicious, vindictive

Johnas Sequeira

Daijiworld Media Network - Mangaluru

Mangaluru, Oct 13: On the basis of complaint filed by HSBC Bank, Mumbai police have filed a case against former judge of Bombay and Karnataka high courts, Justice Michael F Saldana and his brother, Mark, alleging cheating, forgery, and criminal intimidation using anonymous communication and criminal conspiracy. Justice Michael retired as judge of Karnataka high court in 2004. The anticipatory bail granted by sessions court to him in this case was revoked on October 3. He approached the high court, and the Bombay high court bench presided over by Justice Gadkari, on October 7, has granted anticipatory bail to Justice Saldana and his brother. The prosecution has sought time to verify the facts and the case now stands adjourned to October 21.

It is gathered that the brothers, Michael and Mark, are the nominees of their deceased brother Patrick in respect of his accounts and they are also the executors of the will left behind by their elder brother at Mumbai, whereby they are the beneficiaries of the whole of the estate left behind by him. The basic contention raised was that all transactions in relation to the estate of the deceased and the bank account including the execution of all documents was done by one Kuresh Morbiwala who was the consultant and advisor to Patrick and who, as the investigation showed, had diverted massive funds to his own account, that of his wife and of family members.
It was also pointed out that apart from there being absolutely no fault on the part of the executors that they have been wrongfully implicated in the complaint and that there is zero ground to even allege anything against them. Justice Saldanha is 74 years old and has a host of health problems, while Mark, who is 70, stands hospitalised in Mangaluru after a near fatal accident in 1990 that has reduced him to the position of a cripple.

The prosecution had alleged that substantial funds had been transferred to a bank account standing in the name of Justice Saldanha and Mark and that there were irregularities in the documentation and furthermore, that the shares that had been moved out from the Bank and in respect of which, the proceeds transferred to the same account again involved documentary irregularities and that these actions constituted cheating, forgery, criminal intimidation using anonymous communication and criminal conspiracy.

Justice Saldanha was a Bombay High Court judge between 1990 to 1994 and Karnataka High Court Judge till retirement in the year 2004. In their plea before the High Court, the brothers had inter-alia pointed out that there was not even a shade of offence as far as they are concerned because admittedly, they are the nominees in respect of the accounts and the property vests in them also because under the will, the entire estate is left to them and secondly because, they are also the executors of the estate. In that capacity, they had opened the executors account and all money that has come into that account has been systematically disbursed to charities, over Rs 1.5 Crore to institutions in Mangaluru and over Rs 1.00 Crore to institutions in Bangaluru and Rs 2.00 Crores to individuals and institutions in Mumbai. Even assuming that Kuresh had committed some errors in the documentation, they could never be held responsible for the same and that this entire case was a frame up and a witch hunt.

Speaking to Daijiworld, Justice Saldanha stated “My brother Patrick expired on February 18 this year. He was a chartered accountant and financial advisor by profession. He was also a polio patient all his life and for the last over ten years, when he was bedridden all his affairs were managed by Kuresh. That arrangement was continued. Neither of us live in Mumbai, and therefore we had entrusted everything to this man including the signed cheque books and it is he who is answerable for any procedural irregularity.”

Setting out the background, Justice Saldanha pointed out that a dispute arose between his brother Patrick and the bank several months before this death over the non use of his lockers for which the bank was charging an exorbitant rental of Rs50,000 per year. When Patrick issued a letter of authority to Michael to surrender the lockers, the Bank refused to accept it on the frivolous ground that he was not an account holder. When a power of attorney was issued that was rejected and this dispute took a bad turn and Patrick decided to transfer all his assets out of the Bank and to distribute them during his life time. This decision offended the Bank and that is the reason why they are nitpicking. Justice Saldanha had also pulled up the bank because the lockers were found empty but decided that it was useless pursuing the matter. He pointed out that when he was judge of the Bombay High Court, a serious case had come up where nine lockers had been emptied by the officers of this bank and that they had been convicted and sentenced to five years rigorous imprisonment and that this was a sore point with the Bank.

Saldanha also poited out that a case that made international headlines related to a poor clerk named Shamarao Samanth who committed suicide due to the humiliation and torture by the Bank’s recovery agents in respect of an EMI of Rs 260. The whole village of Vasai was up in arms over this case – Justice Saldanha ordered an enquiry, the Officers were found guilty and the Bank had been ordered to compensate the widow and the child to an extent of Rs.50,00,000 each.

"While it is common place to hit back at whistle blowers in corruption cases, it is now clear that judges who take a strong view against powerful institutions are equally vulnerable." said Saldanha.

"The immediate provocation for this malicious and vindictive action has come from the fact that I who work closely with the central government particularly with the law ministry and the finance ministry had submitted a confidential report prepared by a group of high powered professionals on the prevention of the channelization of black money out of the country. This report was found to be true and serious action was taken against the HSBC Bank. The finance minister had sated in his last press conference that the clients of the HSBC Bank head the list of defaulters and that a sum of Rs.8,374 crores had been recovered from the clients of the HSBC Bank on which tax and penalty had been levied. We have done this in the national interest but the Bank has decided to hit back. The high court has seen through the entire plot and we will get the entire proceedings quashed." Saldanha added.

Justice Saldanha also said that he felt very hurt about the fact that the Bank is indulging in massive anti-publicity campaign.

He also highlighted the fact that he had headed an enquiry against church attacks in Mangaluru and several other corruption cases. He stated that for the three years that he has spent time in stopping attacks and hostility against minorities and producing a globally acclaimed report, but lamented the fact that the leaders of his own community are now unjustifiably engaged in maligning him.