Rs 590 crore IDFC First, AU Bank scam: Rs 200 crore gold bought via shell firms using govt funds
The CBI is probing allegations of bribes taken by senior Haryana government officials for opening bank accounts
In the Rs 590 crore IDFC First and AU Small Finance banks scam, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) told the CBI Special Court, Haryana, on Friday that gold worth Rs 200 crore was bought in the names of shell companies using siphoned-off funds from Haryana government departments. Though the firms were not in the business of bullion trade.
The gold was further handed over to persons connected with the alleged “mastermind” of the scam, Ribhav Rishi, without due receipt from the receiver, the CBI added.
The CBI further said that the “accused persons are required to be examined in detail” to “unearth the nexus between the various conversions of government funds to gold and then possibly routing it to various government officials and even abroad.”
Ribhav Rishi was a bank manager at IDFC First Bank, Sector 32, Chandigarh. Most of the alleged fraudulent transactions at IDFC First Bank occurred during his tenure, and when he moved to AU Small Finance Bank, he allegedly continued the illegalities, according to the CBI.
The CBI on Friday produced bank officers Arun Sharma, Seema Dhiman, Anuj Kaushal, and Priyanka, and also Chandigarh-based owner of Sawan Jewellers Rajan Singh Katodia, and builder Vikram Wadhwa before the CBI court at the end of their three-day remand. The investigating agency sought their remand for three more days.
According to the CBI, the accused revealed their detailed role in the crime, including the opening of bank accounts for Haryana government departments with IDFC First Bank and AU Small Finance Bank without following due process. They allegedly passed payments without any cheques or debit notes, relying solely on verbal communication with other co-accused persons.
In some transactions, they allegedly processed debit notes without actually making any call confirmation to the respective department.
The CBI claimed that cheques and debit notes presented by co-accused persons were processed, and that large payments from government departments were made to shell companies maintained by the co-accused persons.
CBI probing role of Haryana govt officials
The CBI told the CBI Special Court, Haryana, that the accused bank officers, Arun Sharma, Seema Dhiman, Anuj Kaushal, and Priyanka, were evasive on the processing of the debit notes where stamp of the concerned government department was not present or fake stamp was used.
The details of who made the calls to process the debit notes are yet to be found out.
The CBI further told that the role of ‘maker’ and ‘checker’ in processing of the debit notes is yet to be found out and also how the debit notes and cheques were matched with the connected records and departments, before processing the same.
The CBI submitted that the “role of highly placed government functionaries” involved from the “opening of the bank accounts” to the transfer of large government funds to these newly opened accounts are under probe. The investigating agency is also looking into “acceptance of gratification in lieu of opening the government accounts” with IDFC First and AU Small Finance banks by various “senior government officials,” and also into “not taking any action on the various fake payments made from the government accounts to the shell companies.”
The CBI Special Court granted the CBI custody of six accused for three days. They will be produced again on April 27.
Earlier, the CBI had told the court that the accused, Swati Singla and her brother Abhishek Singla, had received Rs 292 crore from funds parked in Haryana government departments’ accounts with IDFC First Bank and AU Small Finance Bank. The siblings were proprietors of the Swastik Desh Project firm, which received the amount. The money was further sent to various entities and individuals.
The CBI had registered the FIR on April 8, based on the original FIR lodged by the State Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau (SV&ACB) on February 23. According to the FIR, the case involves offences under the Prevention of Corruption Act, along with charges of cheating, forgery, criminal conspiracy, fraudulent or dishonest use of forged documents, and criminal breach of trust under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), 2023.
More than 200 high-value and illegal transactions have been found in the scam, said the CBI.
