A news outlet says the income tax dept in Maharashtra believes that several cooperative banks in the state are involved in mega fixed deposit scam and a fraud through demand drafts in the mix. The dept has found out these banks laundering politicians’ unaccounted monies worth 10 thousand crore.
The dept has also unearthed a fraudulent pattern of these banks issuing DDs up to Rs 49,900 to avoid furnishing pan card details and flouting Know Your Customer (KYC) disclosures. As per RBI guidelines, demand draft of any amount more than Rs 50,000 is taxable under the income-tax head ‘income from other sources’.
The department suspects that such transactions are taking place from one city to another in connivance with top bank officials.
Sources say early this year, the RBI had directed all primary (urban) cooperative banks to set up a special committee for monitoring and following up cases of frauds of Rs 1 crore and above. In the notification, it said that there was a need for paying attention on monitoring frauds at the highest level, ensuring staff accountability, and reviewing the efficacy of remedial actions taken to prevent recurrence of frauds.
Top IT officials say all cooperative banks across the country would soon be probed for their illegal transactions.
That there are lapses, irregularities, violations of norms,
rules, directives in many of the Banks is known to all. And, no doubt they must be ended. But to
target only cooperative urban banks (cubs) for punitive action by the regulators, seems discriminatory. Most of the cubs in India are doing quite
well in deposit mobilization and in meeting the credit needs of their members
of smaller means.
But they are alleged of keeping the illicit money of
terrorists and politicians as though other banks do not accept their money in
the deposit accounts. Similarly
allegations regarding issue of loans also require closer scrutiny. An Adani
group of company, which had been denied a loan by an Australian bank, was
helped to get a loan of RS.6,000cr from State Bank of India by a
politician. The mounting up of NPAs in
the public sector banks is the sresult of malpractices in the
loan delivery system to the corporates in these banks. So an impartial approach is needed while
regulatory powers are exercised.