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SBI's stand on electoral bonds confounds employee unions https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X1eZZ5kyvqw  Mar 6, 2024  State Bank of India has sought an extra four months from the Supreme Court of India to provide information about Electoral Bonds, and who paid how much money to which political party.

However, this stand of the SBI has irked some employee unions, who feel that the bank is unnecessarily getting dragged into politics. They have urged the bank to quickly provide the data sought by the Supreme Court.

 What Next in the SBI Electoral Bonds Tangle? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OwZWv800IxA   | State Bank of India | Supreme Court | The AIDEM
Mar 6, 2024 #TheAIDEM
As the State Bank of India’s request for an extension till June 30 to comply with the Supreme Court order to divulge the details of the Electoral Bond contributions is pending before Apex Court, the intrigue surrounding the scheme has risen to new levels. Initial public reactions evidently suggest that the premium public sector bank has further eroded its credibility. The requested extension goes against the very spirit of the February 15 landmark judgement of the Supreme Court, which struck down the Electoral Bond scheme as 'unconstitutional' and 'arbitrary'. The developments have certainly deepened the shadows of doubt that have come to engulf the Indian democratic process as a whole in recent times.

Venkitesh Ramakrishnan, Managing Editor of The AIDEM and Thomas Franco, former General Secretary of the All India Bank Officers' Confederation (AIBOC) and founder of "People First" discuss the structural and political implications of the SBI manoeuvre in an interaction with Anand Haridas, senior journalist and multimedia professional.

“I Don’t Believe SBI’s Explanation on Electoral Bonds; it’s Absolutely Ridiculous”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L-qdDu1N3i8  Former SC Judge The Wire   Mar 5, 2024 The Interview with Karan Thapar  Justice Deepak Gupta also revealed that he was part of a bench which in 2019 had told the SBI to collate and keep the relevant details of the electoral bond scheme i.e. to maintain rec  immediate response to the State Bank of India’s petition requesting more than three and a half months extra time till the 30th of June to make public electoral bond details, one of the Supreme Court’s most respected former judges has said “I don’t believe the SBI’s explanation”. Justice Deepak Gupta also revealed that he was part of a bench which in 2019 had told the SBI to collate and keep the relevant details of the electoral bond scheme i.e. to maintain records and he does not accept that they now need three and a half months extra time (over and above the initial three weeks granted to them) to make the information available to the Election Commission. At one point in the interview he said the SBI’s position was “absolutely ridiculous”. Justice Gupta also said “this explanation is not really worth much”.

किसके चंदे का राज़ छिपाया जा रहा है? SBI ने SC से माँगा समय | Electoral bonds: SBI asks SC for time https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8v_jyeCQ5hQ&t=92s Ravish Kumar Official  Mar 5, 2024 क्या 6 मार्च को भारतीय स्टेट बैंक इलेक्टोरल बॉन्ड के बारे में चुनाव आयोग को जानकारी नहीं देगा? आख़िर क्यों उसे चार महीने का समय चाहिए? सहज बुद्धि से सोचें तो यही लगता है कि ऐसा इसलिए किया जा रहा है ताकि लोकसभा का पूरा चुनाव निकल जाए और जनता को पता ही नहीं चले कि 16,000 करोड़ का चंदा इस बॉन्ड के माध्यम से किसने किस किस को दिया। इस बात में अब कोई संदेह नहीं रहा कि यह चंदा नहीं था, फ़्रॉड था। घोटाला था। क्या फ़्रॉड के मामले में सुप्रीम कोर्ट के आदेश का यही पालन हो रहा है कि एक मामूली सी सूचि बनाने के लिए देश के सबसे बड़े बैंक को चार महीने का समय चाहिए? आदेश तो साफ़ था कि 6 मार्च तक भारतीय स्टेट बैंक को सारे दस्तावेज़ चुनाव आयोग को देने हैं और 15 मार्च तक चुनाव आयोग को उसे अपनी वेबसाइट पर प्रकाशित करना है। देखते रहिए, कब तक आपको यह जानकारी मिल पाती है।

Electoral Bonds case: State Bank of India excuses are laughable - Thomas FrancoThe News Minute https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=47iXqk4p2Fk A day before its deadline to furnish details of Electoral Bonds (EBs) after they were struck down, the State Bank of India (SBI) told the Supreme Court on March 5 that it needs extra time till June 30, nearly four months in addition to the three weeks already granted to it, to compile the data. SBI told the SC that it had kept only physical copies of the details of donors, which it will now have to match with the details of EBs stored digitally. Since 22,217 EBs were issued since April 12, 2019 – the date of an earlier interim SC judgement starting from which the court has now sought details – the SBI has claimed that this would be a time-consuming process needing months. TNM’s Senior News Editor Shabbir Ahmed speaks to Thomas Franco, former general secretary of the All India Bank Officers' Confederation (AIBOC) to the SBI’s excuses.

https://www.cenfa.org/sbi-in-the-news-for-wrong-reasons-once-again/

State Bank of India was in the news recently because of the downgrading of its ratings by Goldman Sachs. Before that, the economic research wing was questioned by economists for defending the Government by saying poverty and unemployment have reduced drastically.

Before that, it was on the news for granting a fresh loan of Rs.34000 crores to the Adani group.

But its recent appeal to the Supreme Court to provide time till June 30th to provide the list of purchasers of electoral bonds and parties which encashed them has brought a very bad image for SBI. In the digital era, the bank which is a pioneer in technology saying that it can’t reconcile the transactions and provide the list after 18 days of the Supreme Court order is unacceptable.

In a letter to the Director (Budget) Dept of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance dated 25/06/2018 SBI has stated that it has spent Rs.60,43,005/- for IT system development for Electoral Bonds...

In an RTI reply to Shri. Sanjeev B. Ezhava, dated 22.11.23, the SBI has provided details of electoral bonds for 6 years in just 6 days. Now, why does it require months?..

It is surprising that a company ‘Future Gaming’ has donated Rs.100 crores to a trust named “Prudent Electoral Trust” a trust approved by CBDT under the Electoral Trust Scheme 2013 (letter enclosed below). Is this trust playing the role of a broker between political parties, the Enforcement Directorate, CBI and companies that are doing illegal transactions? The answer will be there in the list. Supreme Court must ask SBI to provide the list immediately.