NEW DELHI: Between November 10 and 12, landowners and contractors deposited massive funds into proxy bank accounts in Ghazipur in Uttar Pradesh, Hoshangabad in Madhya Pradesh and Purnia in Bihar.
The Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU-Ind) and income tax authorities have received 310 suspect inputs from UP alone.
“We have received inputs regarding 310 third party bank accounts from Madhya Pradesh and 93 accounts from Delhi used to launder dirty cash. Any sudden spurt of activity in zero balance accounts where cash deposits under the threshold have been made over a couple of days to dodge scrutiny are on the radar,” the official said. They also recently received a report on 181 suspect bank accounts from Andhra Pradesh.
Both private and public banks, which detect unusual transactions, have been asked to report to the FIU and other agencies via Suspicious Transaction Reports (STRs) and Cash Transaction Reports (CTRs), which are then forwarded to IT for scrutiny and prosecution. Since October, investigators are using upgraded automated monitoring systems to distinguish between legitimate and black money deposits to meet the December 30 deadline. Over `11 lakh crore of the `15 lakh crore in circulation has entered the financial system in November through leased accounts.
“On November 29, we wrote to field units to monitor the sharp increase in PAN applications for depositing demonetised cash. Data is being received from regional computer centres to check fraudulent requests,” he further added.