Chandigarh, Feb 23 (PTI) A day after IDFC First Bank exposed a Rs 590-crore fraud involving Haryana government accounts, the opposition Congress on Monday raised the issue in the Assembly, with Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini announcing a probe. Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini assured the House that a probe has been ordered and the State’s Anti-Corruption Bureau and the vigilance are investigating the matter.
Be it a bank employee or any government employee, anyone who is found involved will not be spared, Saini told the House.
In a regulatory filing made on Sunday, the IDFC First Bank had said it has disclosed the matter to the banking regulator and also filed a police complaint.
“Prima facie, unauthorised and fraudulent activities have been carried out by certain employees at a particular branch in Chandigarh in a specific set of Haryana state government accounts and potentially involving other individuals/entities/counterparties,” the IDFC First Bank filing said.
The Haryana government has de-empanelled IDFC First Bank for government business with immediate effect, the CM told the Assembly.
Leader of the Opposition Bhupinder Hooda raised the issue in the Haryana Assembly.
In response, Saini said after discrepancies were detected, the government immediately decided to transfer the funds to another bank.
“The government is taking this issue seriously, be it bank employee or any other employee, anyone who is involved, strict action will be taken,” he said.
Bhupinder Hooda stated that the bank detected the irregularities and demanded the government should tell the House what action it has taken.
CM Saini said, “We are investigating the matter very seriously”.
The ACB is investigating it. Our government works in a transparent matter. It is not an issue which we will take lightly, he assured.
At present, the bank estimated the fraud size at Rs 590 crore and added that a “reconciliation exercise” will determine the final amount based on receipt of further information, validation of claims, and recoveries of any nature.
Providing details of the fraud, the bank said a Haryana government department had been banking with IDFC First Bank, and the lender received a request for a closure and balance transfer to another bank on an undisclosed date.
“In the process, certain discrepancies were observed in the amount mentioned vis-a-vis the balance in the account,” it said, adding that similar issues were observed in other accounts of Haryana government entities, who engaged with the bank from February 18 onwards.
IDFC First Bank said that a preliminary internal review was conducted, and the matter is “confined to a specific group of government-linked accounts within Haryana Government” operated through the said branch in Chandigarh” and stressed that it does not extend to other customers of the Chandigarh branch. PTI SUN NB NB
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