A Wonderful Mother

1999 April. I was summoned by the Chairman of the Bank. On seeing me he entered into the subject directly. One Amit Shah residing at Malabar hill misused the Bank’s credit card to the tune of Rs 40 lacs. Of course it was not a big fraud, but compared to the credit card category -yes it was an exceptional one. (It was some two months back when another fraud of Rs 4 crores was reported in a branch at Goa and the Chairman was naturally annoyed). He wanted Mr. Shah to be delivered to CBI as he refused to make the payments to recover the loan. He also wanted the officers who allowed the funds to part to be put under suspension. I told him that both the decisions were hasty but the Chairman insisted. I had to call the CBI Branch Chief to know only that Mr. Shah was one of the accused persons in another Bank’s case of Rs 5 crore and was in their custody for days. During his custodial retention with the Agency he resorted to borrow a small sum from a soft hearted officer promising that it would be repaid but never tried to pay. We were told that Mr. Shah a sweet tongued youth would never carry out promises given and therefore difficult to recover the money. They refused to take up the case as the chance of recovery and conviction was remote and moreover the Banks officers would also be subjected to unwanted discomforts. The Chairman was staring at me. I got the message. I told him to keep two months time for me. He desisted but few General Managers insisted. The ball landed in my court. I was reminded to deal with Mr. Shah mercilessly with the help of Crime Branch so that he would not resort to repeat such acts and even if the defrauded amount is not forthcoming the Bank can very well write it off.

I decided to handle the matter by myself and not to refer it to the Crime Branch. While he was alighting from his lancer in front of his apartment I was waiting for him and he landed in my office. I found him very cooperative and he assured me that within a week he is getting me one crore rupees kept in his account and the balance amount after the dues would be deposited for a year and on the third day he would start with a token payment of rupees five lacs. I was very careful not to be driven by his honey coated words. The third day passed off without anything. Our meetings continued. He showed me certain documentary proof of bank instruments but found me not gullible. I realized that my time is getting wasted. I took his photographs telling him that I wanted to publish the item in the newspaper etc., but he continued to smile at me. About ten days passed and we were playing cat and mouse. I decided to put an end to the game. I visited his house and talked to his wife and mother. They told me that they do not want to talk on the matter at their house as the family head -a retired bureaucrat- was ailing from heart disease.

They came the next day to my office. For an hour I kept on talking. I called all the six officers who were instrumental in getting the transactions authenticated and as a result Mr. Shah was able to go on purchasing gold ornaments form different jewellery shops. (There would not be any real purchase as the jewelers used to pass the money after a 10% deduction and the bank makes the payment for the virtual purchase to the firm. The officers were lured by Mr. Shah promising huge deposit to the Bank and there was no consideration of any sort). His mother and wife were told that the officers would shortly be losing their jobs and the loss sustained by the bank would be collected from them and thus six families would be hit hard for acts committed by Mr. Shah for his own benefit. I left the cabin leaving all the officers with them purposely so that the ladies would become the emotional hostages of the officers. I re-entered the cabin after a comfortable intermission. I asked the ladies to avoid the curse of the families of the officers and quoted a couple of instances to explain the quick mortality of greedy and illegal procurement. They started leaving the room assuring me of their return.

They came back after a couple of hours and handed over me Rs 5 lacs which were the sale proceeds of their diamond ear wears. I could not believe it. The mother said that she will repay the entire outstanding amount with interest. ‘I have got only one son and a grandson. I will not allow six sons and a number of grandchildren to starve because of my son’s deeds. Give us one month’s time”. That was the beginning. Five lacs, seven lacs, four lacs, ten lacs…….it followed over a period of one month. She could pay the entire dues with interest which was really unbelievable to me even. Yes one more thing ..Mr. Amit Shah was always accompanying his mother like an obedient child. The account of Mr. Shah in the Card Products Dept was thus closed. We found that his great mother had paid Rs Ten thousand in excess which we returned to her. I found Mr. Amit sobbing like a five year old boy and his mother hugging him. Tears came in her eyes. I found my eyes also wet. I remembered a Jewish proverb. “God could not be everywhere so he created mothers”. I grabbed her hand and said “Thank you. You are a wonderful mother“. She smiled and said softly “In fact I should thank you, you gave me a chance to mend my son. I did not know fully what he was doing outside. He will not repeat such things. May God takes care you all.”

The Board rewarded the task. In the meeting a senior executive commented --‘where there is a will, there is a way’. I corrected-- ‘where there is a wonderful mother there is a way’.