A raid on a branch of Axis bank in central Delhi has reportedly yielded Rs 100 crore that was deposited in 44 bank accounts which were opened using fake documents.
NDTV reports that Income Tax department officials raided the Axis Bank branch in Chandni Chowk and said that Rs 100 crore had been deposited in them since the announcement of the demonetisation of Rs 500 and Rs 1000 notes was made on November 8.
The report also said that a total of Rs 450 crore had been deposited in the branch since November 8, which had raised suspicions.
In a statement late on Friday, the bank’s spokesperson said:
“The bank is committed to following the highest standards of corporate governance and has zero tolerance towards any deviation on the part of any of its employees from the set model code of conduct. Strict action will be taken against any employee found deviating from the guideline . We would also like to add that we are cooperating with the investigating agencies.”
Earlier the Delhi police had intercepted three people with about Rs 3.7 crore in old notes, in front of Axis bank’s Kashmere Gate branch in New Delhi last month, and the ED took cognisance of the police FIR to slap money laundering charges against the accused.
During a probe by the Enforcement Directorate it was found that in that case large sums of money had been transferred to some shell companies including a case where the Director of such a firm was a “petty labourer.”
The agency said that its probe found that the cash collected by sale of gold using demonetised Rs 500/100 notes was “laundered through banking channels with the help of money launderers who are professionally qualified CAs and managing several dummy/shell companies and finally payments from such shell companies were made through RTGS to bullion dealers and the physical gold so purchased at market rate of Rs 31,000-32,000 per 10 gms was handed over to the persons from whom advances were received.”
The bank had, at the time, promised to assist the investigating agencies in all such cases.
with PTI inputs
The article was updated to include the statement of Axis Bank