Warrants against 9 politicians

The court of the special judge. Mr. V. B. Gupta, inquiring into the multi-crore hawala scandal, today issued non-bailable warrants against nine senior politicians, including eight former Ministers - Mr. Arjun Singh. Mr. V. C. Shukla, Mr. Balrarh Jakhar, Mr. Devi Lai, Mr. Madhavrao Scindia. Mr. Arif Mohd. Khan, Mr. Kalpriath Rai, Mr. Yashwant Sinha and the President of the Bharatiya Janata Party, Mr. L. K. Advani. It has also issued non-bailable warrants against Mr. Devi Lai”s brother”s grandsons. Mr. Pradeep Singh and Mr. Amardeep Singh.

Five banks allowed to write down capital

The Union Finance Ministry has allowed five banks to write down their capital by adjusting losses against the paid-up capital. Bank of India and Dena Bank have been allowed the facility in the current year with Indian Bank, Vijaya Bank and Indian Overseas Bank offered the advantage in 1996-97, according to the Budget papers presented to Parliament. The Expenditure Budget for 1996-97 (Volume 2) says, “The provision in revised estimates is towards writing down of the investments (capital base) of the Bank of India (Rs. 1.369.92 crores) and Dena Bank (Rs. 136.29 crores) for adjustment of their losses. Provision has been made in BE 1996-97 for similar writing down of investments in Indian Bank (Rs. 376 crores), Vijaya Bank (Rs. 62 croreS) and Indian Overseas Bank (Rs. 1,094 crores).”

Brijesh Kumar takes over as MD of Air-India

Mr. Brijesh Kumar, an IAS officer from the 1968 batch of the UP cadre, has been appointed Managing Director of Air-India for a period of one year, extendable by six months. Until now, he had additional charge of Air- ndia as a Joint Secretary in the Civil Aviation Ministry.