6,000 benami accounts of co-operative banks holding Rs 50 crore unearthed

Bengaluru: Bandeppa Kashempur, minister for co-operation informed at a press conference that there are 6,000 benami accounts in the cooperative banks of the state of Karnataka and an amount of Rs 50 crore is stacked in them. The reality of these benami accounts came to light when the co-operation department made Aadhar card nomination compulsory for all the accounts in co-operative banks, said the minister.

“After a complaint was filed by the grandson of a deceased elderly on whose name a secretary of the co-operative organization of Mandya availed Rs 2.30 lac loan, the issue was unearthed. A number of such incidents have taken place,” said the minister.

Mr. Kashempur also said that he had received complaints about voluntary organizations taking financial aid from the National Bank for Agriculture & Rural Development (NABARD) and lending the same for higher interest rates in the name of microfinance. The government will call a meeting of the chief of such organizations and discuss this issue.