The Enforcement Directorate has arrested two Axis Bank managers here and seized 3 kg gold bars in connection with its money laundering probe in a racket of illegally converting old notes in connivance with banking authorities.
The agency’s probe till now, after it registered a criminal complaint under the Prevention of Money laundering Act (PMlA) on November 30, found that huge monies were transferred through RTGS transfers to some shell companies including a case where the Director of such a firm was a ‘petty labourer’.
“It was also found that directors of other shell companies were also persons of no means,” the ED said in a statement. The agency identified the two managers as Shobit Sinha and Vineet Gupta, working at Axis bank’s Kashmere Gate branch here, and said they were arrested late on Sunday under the provisions of PMlA. This is the first time such high ranking bank offciials have been arrested for alleged fraud transactions post the currency scrap. They will be produced in a court on Monday for further custody, they added. Axis Bank said it has suspended the officials concerned.
“The bank is committed to following the highest standards of corporate governance and has zero tolerance towards any deviation on the part of any of its employees from the set model code of conduct. In this particular case, the bank has suspended the erring employee and is cooperating with the investigating agencies,” it said in a statement.
A gold bar, part of alleged kickbacks payment given to the bankers, has been seized by the agency from Sinha's location in lucknow, ED said, adding another 2 kg of gold bars have also been seized from one of the jewellers involved in the racket.