The Bankster (Ravi Subramanian)

by Ravi Subramanian

  ‘That was just an unjust accusation!’ Menon cried, indignantly. ‘I was never arrested. And that was years ago. It was a misunderstanding, which was settled. Mohit, Mohit. . .I can explain it.’

  ‘Oh yes. We have it here,’ said Mohit Sengupta as he picked up a piece of paper from his table prepared by his research team and waved it at the camera for the audience to see. ‘The Tusker Gate controversy. Mr Menon would you like to say something on this? In the late seventies, you were arrested in Devikulam for smuggling elephant tusks. In fact, the accusation is that you killed an elephant to graft its tusks.’

  ‘This is untrue. The elephant died of natural causes.’

  ‘That is not what my research says Mr Menon. Let’s go across to Mr Madan Mohan. What’s your view on this discussion Mr Madan Mohan? You have been an MLA from Devikulam for the three terms, the only independent MLA to have been re-elected twice. What do you have to say about the new direction this protest is taking?’

  ‘I have worked with both Mr Jayakumar and Mr Menon. I am yet to see Mr Jayakumar do anything illegal. All his dealings have been in public interest and he has been a true and committed individual. This is the first time I am hearing anything like this. While I don’t believe what Mr Menon is stating, I would be shattered if this were to be found true.’

  ‘And your dealings with Mr Menon?’

  ‘My first interaction with Mr Menon was when his family came to me to help them in the ivory smuggling case.’

  ‘Oh so you are validating the fact that the Tusker Gate controversy in fact took place. . .The ivory smuggling issue which Mr Menon so vehemently denied, indeed happened. Mr Menon, this is an interesting direction that this discussion is taking. What is emerging is that personal vendetta is driving this accusation rather than real issues. Is the accuser fast becoming the accused? We have a lot more to discuss on the other side of the break. Don’t go away, we will be right back.’

  The commercial break gave Menon some time to think. He figured out that the others had come together to fix him on national television. If he fought them, he would be dragged through the mud even further. The people on the other side were powerful people who had a strong public standing. It was foolish of him to have gone to the media. Despite being one of the best news channels, Times Today could also not see through their façade.

  Krishna Menon got up from his chair, removed the microphone pinned on his shirt, flung it at the crew and walked into his house without saying a word. It was pointless. He had tried to harness support, but it had just turned upside down and he had become the accused instead.

  Jayakumar emerged as the unexpected hero from the show, despite starting off as a victim. By the time the show ended the world at large viewed Krishna Menon as the villain and Jayakumar as the saviour.

  Meanwhile, Krishna Menon walked back into his room, shut the door and sat down on the long wooden easy chair and put his feet up on the table. Sulochana asked him how the interview was, and he didn’t respond. He just didn’t speak. An hour passed. Sulochana came a few times, even brought him his dinner, but hastily exited when she saw the mood Krishna was in.

  Krishna was in deep thought. Something dramatic had to be done. Else the political pests would usurp the entire movement.

  40

  GB2, Mumbai

  Late evening to night, 31st January 2012

  Back at GB2 a lot had transpired even as Mohit Sengupta was busy conducting his Big News Debate. Karan had tried to call up some of his colleagues in The Times of India in connection to the page eleven article, but was unable to speak to them. He finally sent them an SMS, hoping that they would call him back.

  Kavya had by then finished reviewing all the personnel files. ‘Karan, we have a problem. All the RMs in question have been sourced for the bank by Yogesh Bhargav, the placement consultant.’

  ‘It was the same in the six files that I saw. So there seems to be a confirmed trend here.’

  ‘Yes, but this is the lesser of the two problems.’

  ‘Yes?’ said Karan, suddenly excited.

  ‘All these RMs have been personally recommended by Vikram for hiring.’

  ‘Bang on’, agreed Karan. ‘That was exactly what I noticed in the files that I saw. All these guys have been hired on his say-so.’

  ‘Yes, in each one of these personnel files is a mail from Vikram, asking for these guys to be hired. He has personally vouched for them. It’s only on the basis of that mail that these guys have been hired as RMs.’

  ‘Two questions come to my mind,’ said Hemant. ‘First, why would the Head of Retail Banking refer and push such junior level RMs? And second, if they were all known to Vikram, why pay Yogesh Bhargav a recruitment fee for these guys?’

  ‘We will leave the second point out of this discussion, otherwise we will be opening up a Pandora’s box,’ suggested Karan.

  ‘Agreed.’

  ‘Karan,’ it was Kavya this time. ‘This could mean that Vikram is compromised.’

  ‘Yes, but we have to be very careful. We have to make sure that we do not accuse someone at that level unless we are very sure. But to me, he looks like the guy behind it all. Even the Cochin guys said so. Right?’

  There was a knock on the door. It was Nikhil.

  ‘Hi Nikhil.’

  ‘Hey Karan. Good to see you. What brings you here? Hope all is well?’

  ‘Yes buddy. All is well. Come on in.’ Karan then looked at Kavya and Hemant. ‘Can you give us some time together? We need to chat.’ He did not want to talk to Nikhil in front of the other two.

  ‘Sure’, said Hemant. ‘I’ll talk to Bala and follow up on the reports.’ Kavya followed him out of the room.

  Karan and Nikhil got chatting. After about fifteen minutes, they stepped out of the room, picked up a cup of coffee and then stepped back in the room again. It was an hour by the time they finished.

  Once Nikhil left, Karan sat down to take stock with Hemant and Kavya. They had perused every bit of data that they had. Only two things remained: The identity of the person who withdrew cash from the Cochin branch and the verification reports from Matrix.

  Hemant, in the interim, had discretely got the addresses of a few of the sixty-eight suspected benami accounts verified, and as anyone would have expected, they were all found to be fabricated.

  Thankfully Karan’s office called back. He picked up his phone in a single ring. ‘Bhaskar, good you called back. I was in fact trying to reach you earlier to check with you as to who has put out the report on the anti-TNPP, protest. It’s on Page 11 in this morning’s paper.’

  Bhaskar was his colleague and a senior. The two of them worked very well as a team. In fact, Karan was often seen as Bhaskar’s protégé. The latter had played a key role in Karan’s rise to fame over the past couple of years. Karan had not sought his assistance this time around, and the only reason for that was that Bhaskar would not have shared the same concern for GB2 that Karan did and hence may have wanted to sensationalize the news in the interest of the newspaper. Something which Karan had promised Indrani, would not happen.

  ‘Let me check and call you.’

  Within three minutes, Bhaskar called back, ‘Don’t know. But I got you the number of the guy who is at the centre of all the action. He is the guy leading the protest—Krishna Menon. Try your luck with him if you need any information.’

  ‘Okay, thanks.’

  ‘Karan,’ Bhaskar added, ‘Just be a bit sensitive when you chat with him.’

  ‘Why, what happened?’

  ‘The guy was on TV. Mohit Sengupta screwed him over on the Big News Debate.’

  ‘As in?’

  Bhaskar told him the entire story—about CNRI, about Krishna’s accusations, about the way tables were turned and how he had walked off from the TV show in a huff. ‘Poor guy,’ said Karan and hung up.

  41

  Devikulam

  10.30 P.M., 31st January 2012

  Krishna was woken up from his restless slumber by the ringing of
his mobile phone. He opened his eyes and glanced at his watch. It was pushing 10.30 p.m. The disgrace that had been lumped on him after the TV show was still hurting.

  He picked up the phone. ‘Yes?’

  ‘Is this Mr Krishna Menon?’

  ‘Speaking.’

  ‘Mr Menon, I’m calling from Mumbai. Hope you are doing fine. I just needed a minute of your time sir.’

  ‘Tell me.’

  ‘Sir, the papers here have carried a picture of yours addressing a rally—the protest rally against TNPP. . .’

  ‘Look. If you are calling for any information regarding the protests, or today’s TV show, please note that I have decided to withdraw from the protests. I am not party to that movement anymore.’

  ‘Oh that’s tragic. But why sir?’ Karan knew, thanks to Bhaskar. He was just expressing his concern and sympathy.

  ‘I have my reasons. How can I help you?’ Krishna was in no mood to go through it all over again.

  ‘Sir I called to ask you about that gentleman behind you while you were addressing the rally yesterday. Who is that person Mr Menon?’

  ‘There were many of them. Who you are referring to?’

  ‘The one in the striped shirt.’

  ‘The one wearing the red striped shirt?’ Menon seemed to recollect something.

  ‘I’m not too sure about the colour sir. The picture I saw in today’s newspaper is a black and white one. But wait. . .let me see.’ After a brief pause, Karan came back on line, ‘Sir there is only one gentleman in the striped shirt and he is the one I am referring to.’

  ‘He is Shivakumar, brother of Mr Jayakumar. He assists him at CNRI and is always around him.’

  ‘Jayakumar?’

  ‘Yes Jayakumar, my erstwhile partner. He also runs an NGO called CNRI.’ Karan recalled his discussion with Bhaskar and figured out that Jayakumar was the person responsible for all of Krishna Menon’s woes. Bhaskar had told him about Jayakumar and the arms deal accusation that Krishna Menon had levelled on him.

  ‘Oh. Is Shivakumar working with you in the protest against the TNPP sir?’

  ‘Yes, he is always around Jayakumar. Very resourceful and helps him in a lot of things. Is there an issue?’

  ‘No sir. He was somewhere else this morning, and we are trying to trace him.’

  ‘Okay. But where are you calling from?’

  ‘I’m calling from Greater Boston Global Bank, Mumbai. I will call you sir, in case I need any further help. Thank you,’ and Karan hung up.

  After hanging up. Karan sat back on his chair and replayed the entire conversation in his mind. When Krishna had told him that the guy in the newspaper was Jayakumar’s brother, Karan had panicked. Foreign money coming in to fund NGOs running an antinuclear protest in India? How much murkier could it get? Precisely at that point, his phone rang. It was Bhaskar.

  ‘Karan, have you spoken to Krishna Menon?’

  ‘Yes I have. Just got off the call with him.’

  ‘Okay great. Just wanted to check. I wasn’t too sure about the number when I gave it to you.’

  ‘Bhaskar, you know what? Everyone including you condemned Krishna Menon for what he said on the show. Probably even painted him as the villain. Have you considered the fact that he might be telling the truth?’

  ‘How can you say that? He has a history which you can’t ignore.’

  ‘I will tell you something if you promise to have the story cleared by me tonight and also promise me that GB2 will not feature in the story.’

  ‘Done. Tell me.’

  ‘Jayakumar and his brother Shivakumar are getting funded by certain agencies outside India, to disrupt India’s nuclear plans. The funds are being routed through an organization called Union of Jews Foundation. We don’t know who’s behind it; for that matter we don’t even know whether Union of Jews Foundation is a genuine organization or a façade. The funds are coming in through multiple benami accounts held with various banks. We can’t say for sure if these guys have a larger agenda in trying to disrupt the TNPP, but one thing is for sure—Krishna is right.’

  ‘How can you be sure?’

  ‘This morning Shivakumar withdrew large sums of money from a suspected fraudulent GB2 account, from their Cochin branch. This account is under the scanner for receiving dirty money and is one of the benami accounts I just told you about. He has been caught on camera withdrawing cash from that account. The CCTV grab matches with the image of Shivakumar in The Times of India, on page eleven.’

  ‘Oh shit. If what you are saying is true, this is a big one. It will be front page news. Nobody who saw him on The Big News Debate believed what Krishna Menon said.’

  ‘Hmm. I can imagine. But look, I have given my word to Indrani. So GB2 can’t be in the news, atleast tomorrow.’

  ‘Okay let me see what I can do. By the way, this puts the presence of the German-American scientist at the TNPP site along with the other protestors, in perspective. Germany and USA are two nations that bitterly oppose India’s nuclear plan, and this is not a secret. From what you are saying, it appears that CNRI is just a front. They have a bigger agenda. Money coming to these benami accounts could be from these nations and is eventually being siphoned off to help CNRI fuel the protest. God knows how many such CNRIs they might be funding?’

  ‘Bhaskar,’ Karan said meekly. ‘This looks bigger than what I thought it would be.’

  ‘Yes, that thought crossed my mind too. You are doing well. I will mail you the article once I am done with it. Will pass it on to Andy once you confirm. Might call you again while I am writing it.’

  ‘Sure. Thanks Bhaskar.’

  The moment he hung up, Hemant walked up to him. ‘Bala wrote back.’

  ‘Hmm. . .and what?’

  ‘They have not done the verification for these employees. In fact, they were never asked to.’

  Karan suddenly stood up. ‘I expected that. By the way, did you ask him how long it would take for him to give us the reports if we send him the details right now?’

  ‘I didn’t, but there is no point. I know for sure that it will take over a week. So we won’t get it before our internal deadline. Clearly, someone didn’t want a background check done on these folks.’

  ‘Holy cow,’ Kavya exclaimed. ‘What did Nikhil say?’

  ‘You know Kavya, I always thought that to become a senior manager in a bank, where trust is the biggest thing for the customer, you need to be of impeccable integrity. In this case, I’m somehow beginning to believe that this trust is being compromised.’

  ‘And why do you say that?’

  ‘Kavya, when Nikhil was here. . .’ Indrani walked in at that very instant and Karan had to cut the conversation off.

  ‘So what has my team of Sherlock Holmes’ found out for me?’ While she was trying to be jovial to lighten the mood, it was clear that behind the façade was a worried person.

  ‘Indrani, we are still at it. We’ve uncovered some serious issues. And it all points to the fact that someone in your organization be corrupt.’

  ‘It’s as much your organization Karan.’

  ‘Yes. That’s what I meant,’ Karan snapped back. He was getting irritated that Indrani was not getting the point.

  ‘Who are you referring to?’

  ‘Vikram Bahl.’

  ‘What?’

  ‘Yes Indrani, Vikram.’

  ‘How sure are you Karan? You cannot accuse anyone without having sufficient evidence.’

  ‘Indrani, it’s a fairly complicated story. But I will tell you everything in brief.’ He told her about the Asia Logistics account, the background under which the account was opened, Vikram’s involvement in the opening of the account, about sixty-eight such accounts which were sure-shot cases of money laundering, about the thirteen RMs who acquired these sixty-eight accounts. The fact that, not only had Vikram backed these RMs, but also had waived off their mandatory verifications. He also told her about the involvement of CNRI and the anti nuclear protestors in the laundering of mon
ey, about the Cochin cash withdrawal caught on video.

  Indrani was stunned. ‘Vikram!! I can’t believe this. I hope you are wrong.’

  ‘That’s not it Indrani, there’s more. And this is what kind of corroborates the entire story. I met one of your Cluster Managers, Nikhil. When he moved to Mumbai, he was coerced into taking on rent, a property owned by Vikram, that too at a rent significantly higher than market rentals. Not only that, to make sure that he was able to afford it, Vikram increased his salary by nearly a hundred per cent.’

  ‘Who, Nikhil Suri told you this?’

  ‘Yes Indrani, though not directly. We got to discussing compensation, which was when he mentioned this to me. No one talks to the media directly Indrani. We are trained to get them to speak.’

  ‘Hmm,’ Indrani nodded.

  ‘And Indrani, the word in the branch banking team is that Vikram paid an event management company over a crore as fees for an event, which would have cost, not more than forty-five lakh. Anecdotal though the latter may be, it shows the kind of reputation a person has. And when that reputation gets juxtaposed with these money laundering issues, even circumstantial evidence begins to make sense.’

  ‘I never knew that Vikram has this side to him.’ She was shattered. Vikram was one of her favourites in the senior management team of GB2.

  ‘There is a hundred per cent correlation between the tainted RMs, Vikram’s referrals and the benami accounts Indrani.’

  ‘Okay this proves Vikram is a person with suspect integrity, but what about Pranesh, Harshita and Raymond? What does all this have to do with their deaths?’

  ‘Indrani, Raymond was investigating the Asia Logistics account. He obviously had stumbled upon something dramatic, which led to him being killed. I have a very strong feeling that this has got to do with the killing of the others too. Vikram will be able to throw more light on this, but we can’t interrogate him. It will be far too dangerous to do so at this stage.’

  ‘I think we need to get HR in the loop. And the cops as well. We need Francis Jobai to come in on this too.’ Francis was the security head of GB2.