Income Tax officers on Friday found that more than Rs 100 crore in old Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes have been deposited in 44 fake accounts at an Axis Bank branch in Delhi’s Chandni Chowk area, reported ANI. Bank officials are now being questioned in connection with these accounts.
Tax officials said the accounts were opened by submitting forged documents. These particular accounts did not have the mandatory Know Your Customer forms, according to The Times of India. The Centre had said that one can deposit maximum Rs 2.5 lakh without submitting any document. Any amount more than that will be examined by tax officials. A total of Rs 450 crore has been deposited in the branch since November 8 when the demonetisation drive was announced in an effort to fight corruption and black money.
The bank said that it is committed to following highest standards of corporate governance. “The bank has zero tolerance towards any deviation on part of any of its employees from the set model code of conduct,” a spokesperson said.
This is the second raid at an Axis Bank branch in Delhi since the currency ban was announced. Last month, the Delhi Police had arrested two people with Rs 3.5 crore in new currency when they came out of the Kashmere Gate branch of the bank.
Till now, as many as 27 officials of public sector banks have been suspended and six others transferred for violating Reserve Bank of India norms announced after demonetisation. The Union Finance Ministry had also released a statement saying that some officials were found involved in carrying out transactions that were irregular and in violation of the RBI’s instructions.
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