Technoglitch
Core Member
The basic question lingered. Just how did this happen? How could a marginal farmer in an unknown Uttar Pradesh village, with a Rs four lakh loan on his head and all of Rs 5,200 in his accounts, stand guarantee for Vijay Mallya’s loan?
The bank’s explanation that Manmohan’s name cropped up as “guarantor” inadvertently, did not quite add up. Why Manmohan Singh of Khajuria Naviram, Pilibhit district of Uttar Pradesh? Why not, for the sake of argument, Susan George Pulimoodu, from the Peroorkada Branch in Kottayam district of Kerala? Or any one of the six crore account holders of Bank of Baroda in India?
This boggled the mind. Un-boggling it required a visit to the Nand branch of Bank of Baroda
At the Nand branch office, there was a discreet silence. The staff there had been instructed not to speak to the media. All we get to know was what is already known: Manmohan’s account was blocked on 15 December, 2015 and reactivated on 20 May 2016.
From outside the Nand branch, we called Ghanshyam Singh, the regional manager of Bank of Baroda stationed at Shahjahanpur. He responded but once again only to parrot the ‘technical error’ line. “Manmohan Singh has nothing to do with Vijay Mallya or his loan. We are investigating how this happened. At this juncture, I cannot disclose much,” said Ghanshyam Singh.
We had hit a dead end. Bank-client privilege meant that there was no way of knowing what happened unless the bank came out and clarified fully. And it was clear as daylight that the Bank of Baroda central office had issued gag orders to its staff. It seemed like we would have to return with nothing more than the already well-publicised comedy-of-errors narrative.
Then a lucky break happened. By now, we had spent considerable time in and outside the Nand branch trying to convince the staff to show us the letter from the central office ordering the freezing of Manmohan’s accounts. That’s when we ran into a middle-aged person who tipped us that if we were looking for the letter, we were looking at the wrong place. “Try Manmohan,” he said cryptically before walking away.
We refer to the Adv A/C M/S Kingfisher Airlines Led and request that our regional office MMSR, Mumbai, has advised us to mark lien in the following accounts of the Directors / Guarantors of the said compnay as mentioned below.."
It then listed nine persons -- with their names, account numbers, location of accounts and balance therein -- as directors / guarantors of the loan. The first four were Vijay Mallya and three of his relatives. Manmohan figured fifth on the list. While all the Mallyas have their accounts in Mumbai, Bengaluru or Vadodara, Manmohan is the only one off the grid.
The Bank of Baroda central office’s missive had listed four persons with accounts in Bandra and Khar branches of Mumbai. Firstpost made discreet enquiries at the Nariman Point office, Opera House office and the two branches (more about that in part II of this series) to identify these account holders.
Officers at all these places acknowledged, of course, unofficially, that the list was indeed genuine but stonewalled when contact details of the Mumabi guarantors were sought. It seemed like another futile fishing expedition when the second lucky break came along.
Curiosity suitably pricked, we looked up the Kingfisher board of directors list as filed with the Registrar of Companies (RoC).
Bull’s eye! There, among the list of seven directors, including Vijay Mallya, was Manmohan Singh Kapur.
Manmohan Singh Kapur is a known name in banking circles, having served as the chairman of Vijaya Bank (from August 2002 to March 2006). He is on the board of a clutch of other companies and lives in Mumbai. The Hindustan Times had unearthed this fact, too, but did not push it hard to question just how this Manmohan Singh, the career banker became Manmohan Singh, the farmer.
Vijay Mallya’s loan: BoB mistook farmer, security guard for Kingfisher directors! - Firstpost
The bank’s explanation that Manmohan’s name cropped up as “guarantor” inadvertently, did not quite add up. Why Manmohan Singh of Khajuria Naviram, Pilibhit district of Uttar Pradesh? Why not, for the sake of argument, Susan George Pulimoodu, from the Peroorkada Branch in Kottayam district of Kerala? Or any one of the six crore account holders of Bank of Baroda in India?
This boggled the mind. Un-boggling it required a visit to the Nand branch of Bank of Baroda
At the Nand branch office, there was a discreet silence. The staff there had been instructed not to speak to the media. All we get to know was what is already known: Manmohan’s account was blocked on 15 December, 2015 and reactivated on 20 May 2016.
From outside the Nand branch, we called Ghanshyam Singh, the regional manager of Bank of Baroda stationed at Shahjahanpur. He responded but once again only to parrot the ‘technical error’ line. “Manmohan Singh has nothing to do with Vijay Mallya or his loan. We are investigating how this happened. At this juncture, I cannot disclose much,” said Ghanshyam Singh.
We had hit a dead end. Bank-client privilege meant that there was no way of knowing what happened unless the bank came out and clarified fully. And it was clear as daylight that the Bank of Baroda central office had issued gag orders to its staff. It seemed like we would have to return with nothing more than the already well-publicised comedy-of-errors narrative.
Then a lucky break happened. By now, we had spent considerable time in and outside the Nand branch trying to convince the staff to show us the letter from the central office ordering the freezing of Manmohan’s accounts. That’s when we ran into a middle-aged person who tipped us that if we were looking for the letter, we were looking at the wrong place. “Try Manmohan,” he said cryptically before walking away.
We refer to the Adv A/C M/S Kingfisher Airlines Led and request that our regional office MMSR, Mumbai, has advised us to mark lien in the following accounts of the Directors / Guarantors of the said compnay as mentioned below.."
It then listed nine persons -- with their names, account numbers, location of accounts and balance therein -- as directors / guarantors of the loan. The first four were Vijay Mallya and three of his relatives. Manmohan figured fifth on the list. While all the Mallyas have their accounts in Mumbai, Bengaluru or Vadodara, Manmohan is the only one off the grid.
The Bank of Baroda central office’s missive had listed four persons with accounts in Bandra and Khar branches of Mumbai. Firstpost made discreet enquiries at the Nariman Point office, Opera House office and the two branches (more about that in part II of this series) to identify these account holders.
Officers at all these places acknowledged, of course, unofficially, that the list was indeed genuine but stonewalled when contact details of the Mumabi guarantors were sought. It seemed like another futile fishing expedition when the second lucky break came along.
Curiosity suitably pricked, we looked up the Kingfisher board of directors list as filed with the Registrar of Companies (RoC).
Bull’s eye! There, among the list of seven directors, including Vijay Mallya, was Manmohan Singh Kapur.
Manmohan Singh Kapur is a known name in banking circles, having served as the chairman of Vijaya Bank (from August 2002 to March 2006). He is on the board of a clutch of other companies and lives in Mumbai. The Hindustan Times had unearthed this fact, too, but did not push it hard to question just how this Manmohan Singh, the career banker became Manmohan Singh, the farmer.
Vijay Mallya’s loan: BoB mistook farmer, security guard for Kingfisher directors! - Firstpost