Accounts in nine cooperative banks under scrutiny for illegal deposits

Nine cooperatives banks in the state are under the scanner of the Income Tax Department and Enforcement Directorate.

Sources in the I–T Department said they will, along with the ED, check several accounts in those banks to ascertain whether money was illegally deposited in them or not.

Recently, the ED and I–T Department were tipped off that those banks received money in contravention of the rules formulated by the Central government for the nationwide demonetisation drive.

The two agencies will examine around 6,000 such bank accounts in the nine banks across the state. Officers of the two agencies have learnt that at least Rs 403 crore in cash were illegally deposited in accounts of those banks.

“We have informed the matter to the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development [NABARD] as they look after those banks. We have also informed the matter to Reserve Bank of India,” a source in the I–T department said.

“We have also learnt that the money was deposited between November 9 and November 14. The CBI has also been informed about the matter,” the source said.

The source further added that there were no prominent know-your-customer (KYC) details in those accounts, suggesting that they are likely fake.

It had earlier been decided by the Centre that district cooperative central Banks (DCCBs) would be allowed to deposit old Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 currency notes – collected between November 10 and 14 – with commercial banks, after close scrutiny by the concerned regulator.

The Union Finance Ministry earlier said that NABARD, which supervises the DCCBs, will conduct a complete audit check of the KYC documents of individuals who have deposited the old notes. The same procedure will be carried out if members of the primary agricultural credit society (PACS) deposited these notes.