Suchitra Krishnamoorthi files complaint against HSBC bank

• Posted by Sindhuri G August 28, 2012 - Filed in Arts & Culture - 2,180 views

  In March 2012, peeved with the careless approach of her bankers toward handling her investments, actress-singer Suchitra Krishnamoorthi had slapped a legal notice on Hongkong and Shanghai Bank Corporation Limited (HSBC) for alleged mismanagement of her funds. But the notice sent through her solicitors Dastur Dadhich & Kalambi, failed to generate any response from the bank. Tired of waiting, Suchitra has now sent a written application to the Juhu Police Station complaining about the bankers.
  
  When contacted, Suchitra confirmed the news. She complained, "They have still not provided me with the documents I demanded through my lawyer Kaustav Talukdar six months ago. The bank alleged through their lawyers Bharucha and Company that I had signed documents authorising them to invest on my behalf. This is completely untrue - I have not."
  
  When contacted, senior police inspector Arun Bhagat, Juhu Police Station confirmed and added, "We shall conduct an enquiry in this matter."
  
  Suchitra explained that HSBC follows the practice of obtaining blank LOIs (Letters of Intent) from their clients and filling them up on their own will. "Often, they don't even inform the client concerned. Obtaining blank LOIs is a clear violation of SEBI (Securities and Exchange Board of India) and RBI (Reserve Bank of India) guidelines, which state that every debit made by the bank on any client's behalf, must have the client's corresponding mandate and signature. Failure to do so is fraud," Suchitra said.
  
  And thus, when the HSBC officers allegedly juggled her monies without her consent, Suchitra had to end up paying Rs 1.8 lakh as penalty for non-disclosure of her investments. "My bank account was frozen by the income tax department. In short, I ended up committing an illegal act due to the unfair trade practices adopted by HSBC," she told us.
  
  Suchitra said she had to suffer losses adding up to a sum of Rs 2.11 crore. "If I had indeed signed these documents, as HSBC alleges I have, why are they hiding them from me? Their claim that since these documents go back to 2004 and they need time to obtain them is bogus. I had been asking for these documents for the last one and a half years," an exasperated Suchitra said.
  
  Suchitra initially had a normal savings account with the bank. It was in 2004 that it got converted to a premier account. In 2007, she obtained a large sum of money as part of her divorce settlement. "HSBC persuaded me to invest it and assured that they would make it grow," she revealed.
  
  But Suchitra started to suffer heavy losses. "Every time I complained, they would simply change my relationship manager," she alleged. Desperate to fix her finances, Suchitra even appealed to the offices of Naina Kidwai and Douglas Flint, chairman of HSBC PLC. This too failed to get her justice. But Suchitra hasn't given up yet. To TOI she claimed, "I will not back off till I get justice. I have truth on my side."
  
  Lawyers for HSBC declined to comment on the matter at this stage.