CBI has initiated an inquiry into cases of defaulters of big loans from public sector banks, its chief Ranjit Sinha said today while emphasising that bulk of non-performing assets were connected to 30 defaulter accounts. He did not reveal the specifics of the probe as it may derail the ongoing inquiry by the agency. Speaking at the fifth annual conference of chief vigilance officers of Public Sector Banks and Financial Institutions and Officers of CBI, he cited number of issues which adversely affect agency's efforts to track and recover these assets.

Highlighting issues which hamper CBI investigation into bank frauds, he said banks are often reluctant to declare bad accounts as fraud despite there being clear manifestations. The CBI Chief said the banks need to realise that delay in reporting of frauds adversely affect tracking and recovery of proceeds of crimes as the initiative is lost.