Rs 70 crore deposit in private bank: Enforcement directorate freezes two Mumbai accounts

MUMBAI: The enforcement directorate (ED) has frozen two suspicious accounts in a private bank where Rs 70 crore in defunct Rs 1,000 and Rs 500 notes was deposited post demonetisation .

The deposited amount from the two accounts was allegedly channelled into accounts of suspected shell companies, and the ED found only Rs 1.4 crore at the time of freezing the accounts. The role of a city-based bullion trader is being probed in the case, sources said.

The total amount deposited into these accounts added up to more than Rs 100 crore but Rs 30 crore was found to have been transferred into these accounts through the real-time gross settlement system (RTGS).


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The agency is probing whether the two accounts are held by a bullion trader. It suspects that the money deposited into the accounts was generated after selling gold at a premium on payments using demonetized currency . Illicit conversion of demonetised notes into gold is one of the modes which has been adopted across the country post demonetisation. After the deposits were made, the funds are believed to have been routed through shell companies to show them as legitimate revenue.

Sources said just after the demonetisation move on November 8, bullion traders turned active. The agency learnt that they sold large quantity of gold in the first few days after the announcement and collected huge demonetised cash. Information on the suspicious accounts was reportedly given by the financial intelligence unit. It learnt that in certain instances, even a couple of crores was deposited at a time.

A source said, “ED officials found that most of these shell companies operated out of tiny premises and had no business. They were managed by those with no proper source of income. The probe confirmed that these companies were fictitious, after which the ED requested the banks to freeze the two accounts.”

Officials added that they are probing details of the two accounts holders and also whether they are professional operators who channel unaccounted money through shell companies to bring it into legal system for a commission.