The Central Bureau of Investigation has launched a probe against 48 companies, three individuals who allegedly ran these companies and “unknown officials” of three public sector banks in a fraud by remitting Rs 1,038.34 crore of black money to Hong Kong in 2014-15, two officials said on Monday.
Most of companies named by CBI in its FIR filed on January 3 are allegedly “fictitious” and showed outward foreign remittances on the pretext of import of goods and foreign travel by Indian tourists whereas there was no such business. The bank officials were paid bribes in cash for assisting in the fraud, alleges CBI.
The individuals – Mohammad Ibramsa Johny, Zinta Midhar, Nizamuddin, and 48 companies named by CBI in its FIR – all have their addresses in Chennai.
The CBI had received information that 51 current accounts of 48 firms were opened in four branches of Bank of India, Punjab National Bank and State Bank of Mysore (now SBI). These accounts were solely used for effecting outward remittances of Rs 1,038.34 crore.
“Out of these 51 accounts, 24 were used for outward foreign remittances in American dollars equivalent to over Rs 488 crore towards the advance payment of import of goods. 27 accounts were used for outward foreign remittances in dollars equivalent to over Rs 549 crore towards foreign travel by Indian tourists,” the FIR states.
The CBI says the accused persons/companies submitted voter IDs, PAN cards, driving licences, certificate of registration of forms, certificate of import export code of 35 firms issued by Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) Chennai, rental agreements for the purpose of fulfilling the KYC norms in different combinations while sending advance remittances for import of goods.
“It is also revealed that out of 24 fictitious firms, only 10 firms have made imports in small quantities. Further, it is also revealed that the goods imported and value of imports did not match with the details/invoices submitted by the firms to the banks concerned and that the value of such imports were very less compared to the value of invoices submitted by the firms at the time of remitting the funds for imports abroad,” the CBI added.
Referring to the role of bank officials, the agency said that the accused persons involved in the entire fraud “were paid commission” on the basis of amount transferred and duration for which the bank accounts remained active and “the concerned bank officials were also bribed in cash”.
“It is apparent that the bank officials were having dominion/control with regard to foreign exchange and they had to follow the mandate issued by the Reserve Bank of India with utmost sincerity and due care. Most of the remittances were remitted during the second half of 2015 and it is seen that the annual turnover of the firms were shown in lakhs, whereas the amounts remitted were in crores which were fraudulently and dishonestly facilitated by the bank officials,” the FIR states.
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