IndusInd to take action against staff if found guilty in remittance case; ED files FIR against some employees

The bank had filed ‘suspicious transaction reports’ with the regulatory authorities during the period and also approached police authorities back in 2015 against some of the unscrupulous entities.

IndusInd Bank on Wednesday said it will take “appropriate action” against any of its employees if found indulging in any illegitimate transaction related to a case of 2015 being probed by the Enforcement Directorate.

“The ED has filed a first information report (FIR) dated July 9 with the Chennai CCB-1 Police Station against some of those entities and few employees of the bank, most of whom have already been separated from the bank,” the lender said in an exchange filing on Wednesday.

The bank had filed ‘suspicious transaction reports’ with the regulatory authorities during the period and also approached police authorities back in 2015 against some of the unscrupulous entities.

“The bank continues to extend full cooperation and assistance to the law enforcement agencies and is duty bound to take appropriate action against any of the named employees if found to have deliberately facilitated/abetted the conduct of any illegitimate transaction”, the lender said.

The case pertains to alleged irregularities in import remittances in 21 banks. The alleged perpetrators routed remittances to the tune of Rs 6,100 crore to Hong Kong and Dubai via Indian banks, media reports had said.

These transactions were under the scrutiny of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in 2015. The central bank examined the irregularities in opening and monitoring of accounts, including violations under FEMA provisions. The RBI also looked into the effectiveness of systems and processes for implementation of know your customer (KYC) norms. Following the scrutiny, the central bank imposed a penalty of Rs 27 crore on 13 banks, including a Rs 2-crore fine on IndusInd Bank. Other major banks included were State Bank of India, Bank of Baroda, HDFC Bank and Punjab National Bank.

Other than the RBI and ED, the Serious Fraud Investigation Office and Central Vigilance Commission were also investigating the foreign exchange scam, media reports said earlier.