After the news of the Rs 300 crore scam spread across the media, the AP Mahesh Urban Cooperative Bank has released the official statement on Monday. The Bank has condemned and denied all the false allegations made and spread by the Shareholders Welfare Association. The latter has filed a petition in the Telangana High Court against the bank. We are reproducing the content as it is for our readers- Editor.
Excerpts:
The news item published in a section of the media and the allegations made therein against the bank by the Shareholders Welfare Association are baseless, manipulated, made with ulterior motives and malafide intentions to tarnish the image of the Bank.
Sri Ramesh Kumar Bung, Chairman of the bank said a self-styled “AP Mahesh Bank Shareholders Welfare Association” formed by a few persons for their personal gains, ulterior motives and which is a puppet in the hands of a few disgruntled members who are running their political agenda through the Association.
He further stated that the bank is sound and functioning with strong fundamentals, with consistent and good track record and has a sound financial base with a business turnover of more than Rs 4450 crore, consists of 2950 crores of deposits and 1500 crores of advances.
The Bank is consistently earning profits and the following are the audited performance highlights of the bank for the year ended 31.03.2020:
i. Net Profit (Before Tax) is Rs. 58.70 crore.
ii. The bank’s owned funds are more than Rs.337 crore.
iii. Net NPAs continue to be 0%.
iv. Capital Adequacy ratio is 18.09% as against the minimum of 9% prescribed by RBI.
v. The bank has been paying dividends continuously for the last 41 years.
vi. Audit classification of the bank continues to be “A”.
It is further stated that the self-styled association is circulating baseless allegations through WhatsApp and Media, by sending letters to RBI, Finance Ministry and also spreading false allegations against the Bank with malafide intentions to defame the Bank keeping in view of their rejection by Shareholders in the elections held to the BOD recently.
He further said that having not succeeded in getting any relief for their baseless allegations from any authorities, they have filed a frivolous petition in the High Court and the matter is sub-judice. This is an arm-twisting tactic to fulfil their ulterior motives. An institution’s reputation is built by many over a period of years. It is the duty of everyone to protect its reputation and keep depositors’ confidence.
Umesh Chand Asawa, MD & CEO stated that the Bank is functioning as per Acts, Rules and guidelines issued by the RBI & Multistate Co-operative Societies Act & Rules and the Bank comes under the category of “Financially Sound and Well Managed Bank” and has never been penalized by Regulators for violation in its functioning.
The bank cautions the customers/stakeholders not to fall prey to these fictitious allegations which were made for their personal gains. However, to protect the interest of the lakhs of depositors and stakeholders, the Bank will proceed legally against the Association for their illegal actions and spoiling the bank’s image, reputation and spreading/publishing false news against the bank without any base or proof.
