The Incredible Banker Page 6

  'Ok, but isn't he supposed to stay away from the valuers and lawyers? Aren't they managed by the credit folks? The sales guys are supposed to not talk to these vendors directly. Isn't that the way it is supposed to be?'

  'Yes, Deepak, but practically hota nahin hai. It doesn't happen the way you are saying. If sales doesn't go and interface with these guys, no business will happen. Credit just doesn't have the sense of urgency, you see,' Savitha made her point.

  'Hmm...yes. But why are we talking about mortgages and loans in a such a deadly weather! Don't we have better things to talk about?' Deepak said, flirtatiously.

  'Of course!' Savitha agreed. 'No more shop talk now.'

  Even as they chatted about other things, the revelation by Savitha was constantly playing at the back of Deepak's mind. Something had to be done. What Savitha had just told him had given him the ammunition against Karan. It was up to him how he used it.

  By the time Deepak dropped Savitha back home, it was 4 a.m. He went upstairs to leave her till the apartment door. The intent was to kiss her goodbye. But at the last moment, better sense prevailed and he turned back from the door without kissing her. He was not too sure if it was the right thing to do or the right time. In another fifteen minutes he was back in his pad in Chembur. Sleep had deserted him. He was lost in thoughts of Savitha and what she had told him. He had just unearthed something which could turn the world upside down for Karan. Deepak was too excited about the possibility.

  The next day was a holiday due to Ganesh Chaturthi and hence the late-night sleep did not impact Savitha's or Deepak's work.

  17 December 2009

  RBI Headquarters

  Mumbai

  'SO, Mr McCain, this is where we are,' the governor ended his monologue. All along Ronald McCain was just listening to the governor without saying anything.

  'So what is the RBI planning to do about it?' Ronald finally asked.

  'Mr McCain, you know RBI does not normally tolerate any interference nor does it take instructions from any department of the central or state government. But this is not a normal situation. The finance and the home ministries are after my life. Serious questions have been raised about the policies and procedures followed by foreign banks in general and your bank in particular. And this time I am at the receiving end. It is a serious breach and I can't afford to be seen not acting. I am sure you understand where I am coming from.' The governor was blunt and to the point.

  'Yes, Mr Governor, but I am sure you realise these issues could happen in any other bank as well. It's not about Greater Boston Global Bank in particular, but the entire banking system. Why single out my bank for this?'

  'It's because these irregularities have been discovered in your bank, Mr McCain,' and after a pause he added, 'all the others are clear as of now. We haven't found anything problematic with any other bank. When we find something, we will take appropriate action against them.'

  Ronald couldn't argue further.

  'So, Mr McCain, your bank needs to sort things out. Let's see how we can deal with it in the best possible manner.'

  'What do you recommend, Mr Governor?'

  The RBI governor turned his face towards the door for a brief moment and then left the room saying, 'I will be back in a moment.' He quickly disappeared behind the door that opened into his cabin. Within a few minutes, he was back in the meeting room with an envelope in his hand.

  Placing the envelope on the table he looked at a visibly pained Ronald, who was trying to guess what was going on in the governor's mind.

  'We have discussed the issue internally and we have no other choice. I will be grateful if you could acknowledge the copy of this letter and hand it over to us. Normally, I would not even have got involved in this, Mr McCain, I would have allowed the Additional Director of Banking affairs to manage this. But given the sensitivity of this case and the possible ramifications, I decided to handle this myself. After this meeting, I have to report to the finance ministry.'

  Ronald extended his right hand and accepted the envelope. He pulled out the letter from inside the envelope and began to read it. What he read left him in a state of shock. The letter from the RBI was a warning he had not expected – a warning that could have far-reaching impact on shareholder value back home.

  24 August 2007

  Anil Williams Residence

  Bandra, Mumbai

  THE entire country was celebrating Raksha Bandhan which coincided with Ganesh Chaturthi that year – a festival when Hindus celebrate the birth of the elephant God Ganesh.

  Anil Williams loved Ganesh Chaturthi even though he was not a Hindu. Not that he was particularly fond of Lord Ganesh or was deeply religious. In fact he had not even been to a church for quite a while. Anil and his wife Rimi had high-flying careers and they were seen as iconic professionals in their respective fields. It put tremendous pressure on them, something they enjoyed, but it also kept them out of home for long hours. They would leave early and come back late at least six days in the week. On any working day, the doorman would press the button of the motorised gate to open the barricade for Anil's car to glide into his residence's parking lot well past 10 p.m. If it was a crisis day, well, he would never make it before the early hours of the morning. The doorman would invariably open the door muttering a few obscenities, which Anil would have ignored, had he heard them. In any case, they were never loud enough.

  Dhruv, the five-year-old son of Anil and Rimi, would be at home with his grandparents, waiting for his father to be back. After waiting till nine, he would be tucked into bed by his grandmother and patted to sleep, more often than not unwillingly. He would try to keep awake till the time sleep would overcome him.

  Holidays like Ganesh Chaturthi gave Anil time to spend with his son. He would take him out to play cricket, go cycling with him, play with him in the Carter Road promenade and shop with him for all the boy stuff. Dhruv liked it, too. The time he spent with his father was quite exciting. He yearned for more such days.

  'Dad!' Dhruv called out to Anil innocently. 'Why aren't there more gods like Lord Ganesh?'

  'Because one Ganesh is capable of finishing all the modaks in this country, ' said Anil and when it didn't elicit a response from Dhruv and instead brought a puzzled look on his face, he shrugged his shoulders innocently and added, 'I guess so. '

  'But then we only get one Ganesh Chaturthi in a year. Many more gods will mean many more holidays na, Dad?' Noticing the sad look on Dhruv's face, Anil walked up to him and took him in his arms and cuddled him tightly. 'Dad, why can't you be at home and play with me every day?' Anil had no answer to Dhruv's naive question. He hugged Dhruv even more tightly and the two of them fell on the bed playing with each other.

  After a few minutes, Anil affectionately whacked Dhruv on his butt.

  'Ouch, Dad! It hurts. '

  'You are stinking, my boy. Get up! Time for a shower. '

  Anil and Dhruv had just come back from a cycling trip to Carter Road, up and down Union Park, back to Bandstand and then to their house in Bandra. A nine-kilometre bicycle ride was bound to make them sweaty, especially at 4 p. m. when the sun is at its peak. Rimi was away in Bengaluru for a corporate interview and hence Anil was in charge.

  Jumping excitedly at the suggestion, Dhruv removed all his clothes and dashed to the bathroom. The water in the jacuzzi came on with a whizz, gushing in from all sides, and Dhruv jumped into the water, squealing joyfully. Anil just smiled. Dhruv loved being with his father, and it was his day.

  Dhruv was extremely possessive about Anil. He would not let Anil touch his mobile when he was with him. It was futile for Anil to even try. Dhruv would scream so hard whenever he picked up his phone that he would have no choice but to hang up. The phone would be confined to a corner of his work desk in the bedroom till Dhruv went to sleep. Anil gave in to Dhruv's desires simply because he suffered immense guilt at not being able to spend enough time with him.

  After an early dinner, Dhruv, tired post a day filled with exciteme
nt, went off to sleep. Anil got up from the bed, switched on the television and began watching the replay of the historic India vs Australia test match played at Eden Gardens in 2001. Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman were launching an attack on the Aussies on the fourth day, and Anil was a huge Dravid fan. As he was sinking into his red automatic recliner, which Rimi had got for him on his thirty-sixth birthday, he remembered something and got up instantly. He walked out of the TV room. Ten steps and two doors later, he was in his bedroom standing by his cherry-hued study table. His eyes scanned the table but couldn't find what he was looking for. He looked around the room and still couldn't find it. Unfazed, he walked into the living room and looked around in vain. He returned to his bedroom, picked up the cordless phone and dialled a number.

  A feeble, muzzled noise could be heard from the other room. He walked in the direction of the noise. It was emanating from the vicinity of Dhruv's room. He walked towards the room, cordless in hand. The sound was getting closer. It seemed to be coming from Dhruv's cupboard. Opening the door of the cupboard, he moved around some of Dhruv's clothes and there it was. Dhruv had carefully hidden away his mobile phone, obviously worried that a call would take Anil away from him. He turned to look back at Dhruv, smiled affectionately, walked up to him to give him a peck on his cheek and quietly walked out of the room.

  On his way out, as he stretched his left hand to switch off the light in Dhruv's room, he glanced down at the large screen of his mobile phone – six missed calls and eleven unread messages were waiting for him.

  Walking back to the confines of his room, he checked the calls he had missed. Two were from Rimi. Manageable. She would understand why he did not pick her calls. If it was urgent, she would have called on the landline or spoken to his parents. One was from Jacqueline, his secretary at work. 'She will call back if it's anything urgent; it is too late to return her call, ' he muttered to himself. One was from an unknown number and the other two were from Karan, his boss. He suddenly perked up. Why was Karan calling on a weekend? He normally did not disturb his colleagues on a holiday. But that day there were two calls from him. It had to be urgent. Thankfully the two calls were in the last thirty minutes. He pressed the dial button and lifted the phone to his ear. When he disconnected after five minutes, he was a relieved man. Karan just wanted some information for an early morning meeting the next day. He then went to his inbox to look at the unread messages.

  The moment he opened his inbox, he let out a moan. 'What the hell is this? Nine promotional messages. Will the National Do Not Call (NDNC) list ever work?' He had dutifully registered for the NDNC Registry over a year back and despite that got at least eight to ten promotional messages on his mobile everyday. As he was about to keep his phone down, his eyes rolled over to a nondescript message from someone he knew very well. He was quite surprised because the person who had sent him the message was not someone who would usually engage with Anil and his team. He pressed the 'Open' button and the message was on his screen.

  Anil read the message once. He did not understand it. He first dismissed it as a prank. Then he read it again. And again. And slowly it sunk in. He slumped back on the sofa, which cushioned his fall. His heart was beating faster. His pulse raced. A few drops of sweat appeared on his forehead despite the chilling impact of the AC.

  Why was this sent to him? Had the sender really intended to send the message to him? Worse still, if he was not the intended recipient, who was the message intended for? What should he do? Should he share it with someone? Or should he keep quiet about it? He didn't know the answer. The phone loomed back into his line of sight. He read the message again:

  'We must plot some dirty, manipulative stuff on shitface. Savitha hates him, Gopal hates him. We should somehow get Richard, Anil and Ganesh to hate him as well. Kuch kar yaar... we r so close to getting him bumped off!!!'

  What worried Anil was that all the four names mentioned in the SMS – Savitha, Gopal, Richard and Ganesh – reported to Karan. So the shitface in the SMS was Karan. Even an idiot could figure that out. Karan was the only common factor that linked all the names in the SMS. What shocked him more was the source of the SMS.

  The sender was Deepak Sarup. And it was sent at 4. 45 a. m. in the morning. He had missed the message since he was occupied with Dhruv the entire day and had not been able to check his phone.

  Why did Deepak send the SMS to him? Was it a mistake? Was it sent to him intentionally? Was there something else behind this? Was there a sinister plan to derail Karan's team? He didn't know.

  He picked up his phone and read the message several times. He was shocked. The vicious tone of the SMS was too appalling for his comfort. And, more importantly why was it sent to him? It had to be a mistake. Should he send it to Karan? Should he call back Deepak and ask? He didn't know what to do.

  And then as he read it for the umpteenth time he figured it out. Deepak had wanted to send the SMS to Amit Sharma, the credit head for mortgages. And instead of typing AMI' on his mobile, he typed 'ANI and carelessly clicked 'send' on the first name that showed up from his mobile's phone book.

  It dawned on Anil that both Deepak and the mortgages credit head were hand in glove. They were conspiring to get rid of Karan, his boss, who was a nice man and a rigorous sales manager.

  He kept the phone on the side and decided to think about it the next day.

  25 August 2007

  GB2 Headquarters, Mumbai

  ANIL reached office the next day wondering what he should do about the SMS he received on Ganesh Chaturthi. He was a bit confused, not knowing if it was sent to him by mistake, intentionally or if someone was playing a prank. Even if it was a prank, he didn't know if was directed at him or Karan. Not only confused, he was also a bit nervous. Was this a racket he was about to expose?

  He was in early that day. Savitha, too, had reached by then. Their seats were quite close by. However, he did not go to her directly. After logging into his laptop, he pinged her, on the intra office chat messenger.

  'Hi. '

  The message popped up on Savitha's screen. She turned and looked behind. She knew where Anil would normally sit. His eyes were glued to his screen. Wondering why he would ping her when she was sitting right in front of him, she began the chat. 'Hi?'

  'What are you doing?'

  'Responding to some mails. Some pricing requests. Why?'

  'See me in the conference room in the next two minutes. Want to show you something. ' She saw Anil get up and walk towards the conference room.

  Savitha was in the conference room in the next two minutes where Anil was waiting for her.

  'Did you get any SMS from Deepak yesterday?' He seemed to be in a hurry.

  'Deepak? Why?' Savitha was surprised. Had someone seen them together? Her guilty mind walked a different track.

  'Because I got this SMS from Deepak yesterday. Did you get this, too?' he asked her.

  Savitha took the phone from his hands and read through the message. She couldn't understand what was written. Why would Deepak send such a stupid message to Anil? She couldn't understand. 'No, Anil. I didn't get this message. But why would Deepak send this message to you? I am sure there is some kind of misunderstanding here. Why don't you check with Deepak?'

  'No, I will talk to Karan first. Let him deal with it the way he thinks appropriate. '

  "That might be the right thing to do. ' And Savitha walked away from the conference room. The fact that she disliked Karan was known to everyone, including Karan himself. If anything, the sender of the message had got his facts right.

  That evening Bhisham called Deepak.

  'Deepak, Vikram Solanki just spoke with me. ' Vikram was GB2's Head of HR

  'Yes, Bhisham. What is it about?'

  'Apparently there is an SMS that has gone out from you yesterday to someone in Karan's team, which seems to raise a finger at your personal integrity. '

  'What? What SMS are you talking about, Bhisham? I am not aware of any such message' Deepak seemed shocked and surp
rised at this allegation.

  'Look, ' said Bhisham and showed him an email. It was written by Karan to the head of HR and copied to the CEO and even to the head of retail banking.

  Dear Vikram,

  I am extremely disturbed by this incident. This has wider ramifications as we go about building our loans business and that's the reason why I am raising this to you.

  Background

  On Wednesday (24 August), 'Anil Williams' received a message on his phone from Deepak Sarup, which, I presume, was sent to him erroneously. I would like to believe, looking at the contents, that the message was meant for someone else but was sent to Anil by mistake. Anil too was extremely shaken up and showed it to me this morning. He showed it to me a day late because the day he received the message was a bank holiday. I am reproducing the contents of the SMS below.

  We must plot some dirty, manipulative stuff on shitface. Savitha hates him, Gopal hates him. We should somehow get Richard, Anil and Ganesh to hate him as well. Kuch kar yaar. We r so close to getting him bumped off!!

  I am concerned about the contents of this message because it speaks about me and I feel reasonably threatened by this malicious effort to plot against me. It also affects my ability to deliver on my job. Such behaviour by the seemingly responsible people of this organisation will be detrimental to organisational goals.

  Anil and I can come across and show you the message he received on his phone.

  Given that the message is manipulative, personal and against the collaborative spirit that all of us are working in, I would request you to take appropriate action.