Banking Frauds: CVC, CBI, ED draw up plan to recover funds

Mumbai: Top agencies CVC, CBI and ED have come together to formulate a plan of action to recover the money lost in major banking frauds and bring to book the perpetrators.

"We have analysed the root cause of the top bank frauds, and how the diversion of money took place. We have analysed these 10 frauds with the CBI and ED, and have discussed how to recover funds and book the criminals," Vigilance Commissioner T M Bhasin said on Thursday.

“We have come up with an action plan and all the three agencies are working together on this," Bhasin told reporters on the sidelines of a Dena Bank event.

He said the three agencies have analysed these frauds to understand the modus operandi, what were the mistakes, and how loopholes can be plugged.

Bhasin said the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) has written to the Reserve Bank to red flag those accounts where the value of transaction, single or multiple, has exceeded the threshold limit of USD 1 lakh (about Rs 65 lakh) per day.

"We have written a letter to the RBI and have asked them to ensure tracking of even smaller transactions, and also where the total value of such multiple transactions crosses USD 1 lakh in a day from an account," he said.

Bhasin also said both the Reserve Bank of India and Indian Banks Association (IBA) are working on details of arrangement to monitor such transactions.

When asked about the Bank of Baroda case where over Rs 6,100 crore of money was allegedly transferred to Hong Kong from the lender's New Delhi branch, he said the magnitude of the fraud might not be that big as it was an advance remittance for imports.

"In the Bank of Baroda case, it is not that there has been a Rs 6,000-crore fraud. It was only a simple advance remittance for imports," he said.

The bank, CBI and Enforcement Directorate are working together on this to identify how much import actually happened, how much import still has to happen and how much money has frittered away, he added.