Giving a clean chit to three private banks alleged on money laundering, RBI Deputy Governor KC Chakrabarty said there is no systemic scam that has happened in the Cobrapost allegations, reports said.
Reserve Bank of India seeks to prevent three leading private banks – ICICI Bank, Axis Bank and HDFC Bank from the money-laundering allegations.
There were no irregularities in the banks transactions, the bank said, added the country had a “perfect” system to prevent such offences and that not a single such transaction took place in the sting operation, source said.
“Allegations do not mean flouting norms. There is not a single transaction which has taken place. KYC violations will happen in any system. These are all transactional issues and have nothing to do with money laundering,” Chakrabarty told reporters.
Over anti-money laundering laws, RBI ensured to tighten the norms and also initiated scrutiny of the three banks for alleged violation of KYC guidelines, source added. Moreover, the final reports of the center bank would be submitted March 31 on basis of which further steps to be taken.
Earlier, an online portal Cobrapost with ‘Operation Red Spider’ claimed that the sting operation conducted by it had revealed a scam and ICICI bank, HDFC Bank and Axis Bank have also involved in money laundering.
Cobrapost had also released a footage showed HDFC, ICICI and Axis Bank officials allegedly agreeing to take sums of cash and put them in their long investment schemes to convert black money into white in violation of anti-money laundering laws.
