CBI detects Rs 174 crore forex transactions by shell firms
The Anti-Corruption branch of CBI, Chennai, has begun a probe against three bank officials and six companies along with their owners, who have allegedly sent over Rs 174.5 crore through foreign remittances via 485 transactions, suspecting it to be a case of alleged money laundering using shell companies.
By : migrator
Update: 2017-11-19 22:48 GMT
Chennai
An FIR has been registered against officials, former senior executives of State Bank of Bikaner and Jaipur, including the then manager – accounts, NMR Deekshitulu, the then concurrent auditor M Ramachandran and the then deputy manager Anuj Shukla along with six companies namely Skylander, EVY Marketing, Reisen ´N’ Holidays, Grebes Traders, JH Marketing and Go Smart Global Trading along with the proprietors of the firms.
All these transactions happened before the SBBJ was merged with the SBI. Officials suspect that the firms used the facility for the hawala transaction without importing anything but to send money abroad using forged documents of import.
A case has been registered under IPC sections and provisions under Prevention of Corruption Act. Officials said that these firms, between May and June 2015, illegally transferred money to foreign remittances to various countries in the name of import, which never took place, thus resulting in loss of foreign exchange to the country.
The funds to these accounts were mobilised from different parts of the country through different modes of transactions, including online, to transferring money illegally abroad by exploiting RBI guidelines. The bank officials in collusion with those account holders had allowed these transactions without verifying the activities of the concerned firms and also without satisfying authenticity of the transactions, officials said.
FRAUD FACTS
- 6 Chennai firms remitted Rs 174.5 crore worth forex outward in two months’ time in 2015.
- These firms made no import, but showed outward advance remittance against import.
- Three bank officials’ involvement suspected.
- ED had found that eight other shell firms in Chennai pumped out Rs 78 crore worth foreign exchange last year. Mani Anbazhagan, son of former DMK minister late Ko.Si Mani was among the few arrested in August in connection with the case.
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