POLITICS OF MINORITIES CONTROL TAKES A NEW TURN AMANATH SCAM HITS BACK, CRIMINAL CASE AGAINST REHMAN KHAN

       

By Firoz.T.Totanawala

The Bangalore Metro Reporter

15th Feb 2011 issue-

 POLITICS OF MINORITIES CONTROL TAKES A NEW TURN

                       

AMANATH SCAM HITS BACK, CRIMINAL CASE AGAINST REHMAN KHAN

The Deputy Chairman of the Rajya Sabha K.Rahman Khan has been slapped with a criminal complaint by the State for misappropriation of crores of rupees in Amanath Co-op Bank for which he is the founder. The Co-op Minister Laxman Savadi had tried to take a political advantage by holding a press conference to announce the criminal case against Rahman Khan. For those who knew the scams in Amanath Co-op Bank, this is not news at all. More than anything, the timing of the criminal complaint assumes significance. The scams took place more than a decade back and trial is going on against few top officials of the bank. At this point, one can only say that this is yet another case of targeting the minorities.

The scam is dated a decade back. The Amanath Co-operative Bank had issued a newspaper advertisement denying any hanky-panky. But, within days, the skeletons in the cupboards of the bank started tumbling out one by one. The then Government ordered enquiries including COD and the MD of the bank simply absconded. The crores misused and misappropriated by few top officials with the active support of Rahman Khan and other directors sent shock waves among the Muslim community. Rahman Khan stood completely exposed.

It was the feud between Mumtaz Ahmed Khan of Al-Ameen fame and Rahman Khan, which saw the scams seeing the light of the day. Later, efforts of patch up between them were undertaken and finally, both issued a statement for working towards the benefit of the Amanath Co-operative Bank. It is another matter that the Bank had served as a sort of Swiss Bank to many big wigs. The Muslim politics too took its toll on the affairs of the Bank as the detractors of Rahman Khan campaigned against him. Ziaulla Sheriff who heads a multi crore real estate company was also made the Chairman to tide over the financial crisis, but that too, did not yield any positive results. The MD of the Bank, who fudged the accounts and raised benami loans to the tune of crores, was hounded like a fugitive and was finally caught by the COD.

Rahman Khan and others repaid a major share of the huge loans taken from the Bank, through questionable means. The Government superseded the Board and appointed an administrator and here too, politics took preference over the health of the Bank. The Co-operation department held enquiries and also held officials responsible for the scams, but, it white washed the sins of the Board of Directors. As on now, the Amanath Co-operative Bank is slowly but steadily getting back on rails.

Of course, considering the big names involved, the Government officials went slow on enquiry. In fact, the Co-operative Act provides for quick recovery of loans by attaching the properties of the borrowers. But the main problem in here was the unsecured loans amounting to more than 80 crores which were even raised in the name of Bank employees also without their knowledge. As far as loans to big names including Rahman Khan are concerned, the same can be easily recovered through attachment of their properties. But, it is a mystery as to what prevented the Bank or the Co-op department to initiate strict recovery proceedings in the Bank. There is a department auditor, in this a high ranking auditor from the Department of Co-op audits, who has to audit the financial transactions of the Banks on day to day basis. Apart from this, the Co-op audit department also conducts regular audit and classify the Bank. The Urban Bank Cell in the Reserve Bank of India also conducts inspection and some times imposes penalty on the Bank over cases of omissions and commissions. Despite these checks and counter checks, the Bank went on committing frauds after frauds and one feels shocked at the inaction, if not, involvement of Co-op department, Co-op audit and RBI officials.

Coming back to the case filed against Rahman Khan and others, on the face of it, the move seems to be a deliberate attempt to finish him off politically. Rightly or wrongly Rahman Khan has become the Muslim face in the State after C.K Jaffer Sheriff faded away. Others, who tried to become the leaders of Muslims in the state, lost the face due to their own scams and scandals and as of now, Rahman Khan remains the tall leader of Muslims because of his high position.

There is no valid reason for the Government for not taking any action on the scams of the Bank for the last three years. In fact, the BJP tried to project the Wakf Minister Mumtaz Ali Khan as a leader of Muslims but the move was an utter failure. Even Muslim leaders of other parties have been victimized and Rahman Khan is the latest in series. The BJP wants Rahman Khan to resign his Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairman post in view of the criminal case against him.

Otherwise, there is no reason whatsoever to sit idle over the issue for the last three years and suddenly filing criminal cases against Rahman Khan and others.