MUMBAI: The scam-hit IDFC First Bank said that it has repaid 100% of the principal and interest to the affected Haryana government departments, releasing a total of Rs 583 crore.
The statement comes a day after Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini informed the assembly that the bank had credited back Rs 556 crore of the total loss of Rs 590 crore lost through an internal fraud which came out last Sunday. The bank didn’t clarify about the mismatch of Rs 7 crore.
The day also saw the state anti-corruption bureau (ACB) arresting four of the accused.
The four were identified as Ribhav Rishi, Abhay Kumar, Swati Singla and Abhishek Singla, according to the ACB. While the first two are former employees of the affected branch, the last two are state government employees. The fraud took place at a branch in Chandigarh.
Addressing the media in Panchkula, ACB Director General AS Chawla said the fraud involved siphoning off nearly Rs 300 crore into a private firm’s account, with most of the funds belonging to government departments.
While Rishi headed the bank’s Sector 32 branch until about six months ago, Abhay was a relationship manager and resigned last August.
Swati Singla and her brother Abhishek Singla ran a partnership firm, Swastik Desh Project, which investigators say was used to route the diverted funds. According to Chawla, Swati holds a 75 percent stake in the firm and Abhishek owns the remaining 25 percent. Swati is also Abhay Kumar’s wife.
“This is the main private company into whose accounts most of the funds — nearly Rs 300 crore — were transferred, and later moved further,” Chawla said. While the bulk of the money belonged to government departments, a smaller portion may have come from Chandigarh administration accounts.
Investigators allege that Rishi and Abhay masterminded the fraud.
Chawla also noted the unusual cross-border movement of funds. “The IDFC branch is in Chandigarh, the government departments are located in state territory, and the AU Small Finance Bank branch where the money was transferred is in Mohali,” he said.
The state police has set up a Special Investigation Team under the supervision of senior IPS officer Ganga Ram Punia. “The SIT acted swiftly and within 24 hours arrested the two main accused, Rishi and Kumar, after collecting technical evidence,” Chawla said.