Malabar District Co-operative Bank got Rs 169 crore in old notes in five days

MALAPPURAM: A CBI team which conducted a surprise inspection at Malabar District Co-operative Bank (MDCB) in Malappuram on Wednesday found that the bank received deposits of scrapped currency notes worth Rs 169 crore during the first five days after demonetisaton of high-value notes came into force on November 8.

The agency has asked the bank to produce all documents related to depositors, though the bank's authorities already seem to be partly washing their hands off by citing ambiguities in RBI guidelines related to sharing of KYC details of deposits from primary cooperative societi-es as opposed to the cooperative bank's own branches.

The investigation team found Rs 169 crore was deposited between November 10 and 14 in 54 branches and 296 cooperative societies including 140 co-operative banks which function under MDCB.

The branches deposited a total of Rs 84 crore and societies deposited currency worth Rs 85 crore in the bank during the five days.

CBI also sought clarification regarding the Rs 97 crore balance in the bank on November 10. The raid was conducted as part of the ongoing drive to check whether accounts operated in district cooperative banks have been used since demonetisation to launder money.

Bank authorities denied reports that money laundering was involved and clarified that all branches of the bank have followed KYC norms while receiving deposits.

"It is not our responsibility to check the source of the money deposited by each person in bank branches. But, as we followed KYC norms, we can share the details of customers with the investigation agency," said Pradeep Menon, vice-president of MDCB.

At the same time, he added that as there was no direction from RBI to follow KYC norms while receiving deposits through cooperative societies, the bank had limitations in sharing details of such investors with CBI.