IDFC First Bank committed fraud of Rs 590 crore with Haryana government. file photo
State Bureau, Chandigarh. Some employees of Haryana Government and officials of IDFC First Bank in collusion have committed a huge fraud of about Rs 590 crore with the State Government. Many administrative departments of Haryana had opened their accounts in this bank.
Now all the accounts will be closed. In this regard, orders have been issued by the state government to all the department heads. On receiving information about such a huge amount being embezzled due to the collusion of bank officials and government employees, the bank itself informed the authority and took action and suspended four officials for the time being.
Haryana Government has directed that all the accounts in IDFC First Bank and AU Small Finance Bank should be closed with immediate effect. The state government fears that such fraud may take place in other private banks also, hence all departments have been ordered to tally the amounts in the accounts. This fraud has happened with the Haryana Government in the Chandigarh branch of IDFC First Bank. The bank said that some employees of its Chandigarh branch were involved in a fraud of Rs 590 crore from accounts linked to a Haryana government department.
He has been suspended until the investigation is completed. This whole matter came to light when a department of Haryana Government gave a request letter to IDFC First Bank to close its bank account and transfer the money in it to another bank.
When the bank started this process, it noticed a huge difference between the balance in the account and the balance reported by the government department. Upon careful investigation, it was found that the difference was around Rs 590 crore. IDFC First Bank and AU Small Finance Bank have been blacklisted by the Haryana Government with immediate effect till further orders. IDFC First Bank found that some employees of the Chandigarh branch had deliberately tampered with the records, so that this fraud could be carried out and no one could suspect it. The bank says that civil and criminal cases will also be filed against the employees and officers involved in the fraud.
Banks and investigative agencies are also keeping an eye on the outsiders involved in this fraud. Considering the seriousness of this matter, the bank has called a meeting of its board committee. In the meeting, the complete report was placed before the special committee monitoring fraud cases.
The bank is in the process of appointing an external independent agency to conduct an in-depth investigation of the entire matter, which will also conduct a forensic audit of the entire matter.
Along with this, a written complaint has also been given to the police administration. The bank has also sent recall requests to other banks where this fraudulent money transfer is suspected, so that those accounts there can be frozen.
Now only Administrative Secretary is authorized to open bank accounts
On the other hand, the Finance Department of Haryana has ordered government departments to open accounts only in nationalized banks. Haryana Government has said that now the State Government will close all the government accounts operated in IDFC First Bank and AU Small Finance Bank.
All departments and boards and corporations have been asked to withdraw the deposits in these banks and close the accounts. Accounts can be opened only in nationalized banks. Even if accounts have to be opened in private banks, approval will have to be taken from the Finance Department citing concrete reasons. On behalf of the Finance Department, instructions have been issued to all Administrative Secretaries, Heads of Departments, Deputy Commissioners, Boards-Corporations and Managing Directors, Chief Administrators and Chief Executive Officers of Government Companies and Autonomous Bodies along with Registrars and Divisional Commissioners of Universities.
Administrative Secretaries have been authorized to approve opening of bank accounts for departmental schemes, projects and programmes.
All government accounts will have to be reconciled by March 31
The Finance Department of Haryana has said that some banks are not following the conditions of fixed deposits being made by departments and corporations. In many cases, it has been observed that banks are retaining funds in savings accounts despite clear instructions to keep the funds in flexible deposits or other fixed deposit instruments with higher interest rates. This is resulting in financial loss to the government. Many departments and corporations are not regularly reconciling their fixed deposits and bank accounts with the respective banks, due to which such irregularities are not being detected in time. They have been asked to make fixed deposits only as per the approved terms and conditions.
All fixed deposits and related bank accounts have to be reconciled on a monthly basis. Serious irregularities will have to be reported to the Finance Department by immediately raising the issue of discrepancies with the concerned banks. All departments and board-corporations have been asked to reconcile their bank accounts by March 31 and send the compliance report to the Finance Department by April 4.
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