ED arrests Kotak Mahindra Bank Manager

Ashish Kumar arrested in a criminal case of detection of nine alleged fake accounts with deposits worth Rs 34 crore post demonetisation.

Enforcement Directorate on Tuesday arrested manager Ashish Kumar of Kotak Mahindra bank, KG Marg branch in connection with a money laundering case. The same branch had been raided by income tax officials on December 22 for suspicious transactions through fake accounts.

The manager allegedly was involved in the illegal conversion of money in the Paras Mal Lodha and Rohit Tandon cases. Officials said the agency arrested the manager of the bank’s branch in the K G Marg area, late last night after questioning.

Kolkata-based businessman Paras Mal Lodha was already arrested by the police on November 21 in Mumbai by the Enforcement Directorate in connection with alleged conversion of old currency notes worth Rs 25 crore.

Allegedly, Lodha was the man who converted old currency notes to new in Shekhar reddy and Rohit Tandon cases.

With reference to ongoing probe of said a/cs,bank already suspended services of its employee Ashish Kumar(arrestd by ED)-Kotak Mahindra Bank

— ANI (@ANI) December 28, 2016

The bank said Kumar had been suspended from the post and has released an official statement, “With reference to the ongoing investigation of the said accounts, Kotak Mahindra Bank had proactively informed Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) and the Bank has already suspended the services of its employee Ashish Kumar. The Bank has zero tolerance towards employees not adhering to its Code of Conduct, and takes strict measures against them. The Bank confirms that it has a robust system of regularly and proactively filing necessary reports with the FIU for all large transactions. The Bank has on record all necessary KYC documents, including PAN card. The Bank on its own, on observing the nature of transactions in these accounts, proactively filed a report with FIU for further investigations well in time. On subsequent investigation by the Income Tax authorities, the Bank, as per their instructions, has deposited the entire amount that was credited with these accounts with the Income Tax department. As can be seen from the Bank’s actions, the Bank has fully cooperated and communicated with the relevant authorities, and has demonstrated the highest standards of compliance, and the Bank will continue to do so.” Rohit Rao,  Spokesperson, Kotak Mahindra Bank.