Axis Bank suspends 24 employees, 50 accounts under lens

MUMBAI: Axis Bank has suspended 24 employees this month and 50 of its accounts are under the scanner due to suspicious transactions during the exchange of high denominated notes, senior bank executives said. Eight of the bank’s branches, five of them in Delhi, have been investigated by government agencies for suspicious transactions linked to the ongoing exchange of high denominated currency, they said. “We currently have 50 accounts under suspicion but that number keeps on changing on a daily basis as some accounts are cleared after receiving satisfactory information or some are added because of fresh questions,” said Rajesh Dahiya, executive director at Axis Bank.

Its branch in Noida was the latest to be investigated by the income-tax department and news agencies have reported that 24 accounts — mostly of low income workers — with deposits aggregating Rs 60 crore were unearthed.

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Rajiv Anand, head retail banking at Axis Bank, said investigation by agencies were based on suspicious transactions proactively reported by the bank with the RBI and the financial intelligence unit of the government.

“For example we must have detected Rs 1 crore deposited in one account which may be linked to multiple banks. These accounts are all being investigated based on out suspicious transaction report,” Anand said.

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In a conference call with journalists, the bank said it expects the forensic audit report from consultancy firm KPMG to be submitted in the next 10 days. KPMG was appointed for a special audit last week after the bank found deviations in certain transactions linked to the note exchange.