NEW DELHI, June 2: The Bank of Rajasthan (BoR) has started directly approaching the borrowers of the CRB group to recover the money locked in the company.

The bank has to recover a total of Rs 7.15 crore from the CRB group which was given to the company in different stages.

The chairman of the bank, R S Rathore, said that apart from lodging claims with the official liquidator, the bank on its own initiative would try to recover money from the companies which had taken loan from the CRB as part of the leasing business of the latter.

About 75 % of the loans given by the Bank of Rajasthan were backed by securities, the chairman said, and hoped that the bank would be able to recover a significant portion. The bank has to recover a total of Rs 7.15 crore which also includes interest.

The exposure in the CRB started in October 1994 when the Bank of Rajasthan gave Rs 3 crore to the company as part of the consortium lead by Bank of Baroda. The loan was approved by the committee of directors of the bank. However, CRB did not utilise the money except for a small withdrawal of Rs 25 lakh.

Later in May 1995, the committee of executives of the managing director sanctioned a loan of Rs 4.50 crore to CRB Corporation for augmenting leasing activities. Sources in the bank revealed that by that time the CRB had become a high-flying company and banks were eager to give loans.It was further pointed out that everything was in order till November 1996. The trouble started around that time with the CRB unable to pay a due installment of Rs 26 lakh.Chairman Rathore said that the bank had initiated inquiry into non-payment of dues .

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