The reports of co-operative banks helping to defeat the demonetization bid of the government keep pouring in from various states with Kerala and West Bengal topping the list. There are unusual amounts of unexplained currency being deposited in cooperative banks across districts in West Bengal, reports Pioneer. The amount has run into several hundred crores, sources say.
The Opposition parties have linked abnormal accumulation of old currency notes to the ruling Trinamool Congress leaders’ “chit fund and palm-greasing accounts,”. According to a source, an amount of Rs 58 crore 21 lakh was deposited in first four days at Raiganj cooperative bank after November 8.
While bank chairman Nizamuddin Siddiqui claimed the bank had witnessed a 6 per cent increase in deposits which normally is pegged around Rs 1.60 crore insiders said the stated rate of increase does not match the actual deposits which amount to Rs 58 crore.
Insofar as other banks are concerned till November 13 about Rs 1,000 crore were deposited in the 300 branches of 17 central cooperative banks. Most of the cash in these banks came in from 5,000 primary cooperative societies.
According to sources Hooghly district cooperative bank received a deposit of Rs 124 crore while the bank in Nadia got a deposit of Rs 150 crore. While Midnapore Vidyasagar cooperative Bank received a deposit of Rs 55 crore the figure for Malda was Rs 100 crore. Burdwan, Howrah and East Midnapore jointly accounted for about Rs 100 crore sources said.
Referring to the scenario in Kerala media reports say “Don’t have a misconception about the words ‘Primary Bank’. Those Cooperative Banks are , as it were , Swiss Banks of this region. You will be shocked at the revelations made by the Income Tax Department about these cooperative banks holding black money to the tune of Rs 30,000 crore in their accounts.”
These banks, mostly in rural areas, are bypassing the banking norms to hoard the black money mostly from politicians, they say. The politicians in the state are the major stakeholders in hoarding unaccounted money in these banks.
Meanwhile, Alwar Urban Cooperative Bank’s vice-president Ashok Joshi and 10 other employees are under scanner of the income tax (IT) department after the Alwar police intercepted them near the highway in Tijara and seized Rs 1.32 crore in cash. The money, suspected to be unaccounted, was being transported by the employees in six travel bags. When the employees were questioned on the source of money, they maintained that the money was from the bank.