Close on the heels of the ₹590-crore IDFC First Bank fraud, another financial fraud has hit the Haryana government. Discrepancies involving nearly ₹150 crore have surfaced in the Panchkula Municipal Corporation’s (MC) fixed deposits (FDs) held with the Sector 11 branch of Kotak Mahindra Bank. The Haryana State Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) has been asked to probe the matter after the Panchkula police registered a first information report (FIR) on Wednesday. No arrests have been made in the case so far.
The fraud was detected on Tuesday when the civic body requested the transfer of a matured FD worth ₹58 crore, only to find the funds missing. “Some of the FDRs were with the bank for a long time in the Panchkula branch. The discrepancy was found when the bank was asked to transfer the funds upon maturity of one of the FDRs,” Vinay Kumar, commissioner of the Panchkula Municipal Corporation, said. Following enquiries, discrepancies were detected in other FDRs as well, involving a total amount of nearly ₹150 crore, he said.
The incident comes close on the heels of a major scam involving IDFC First Bank and AU Small Finance Bank, where a ₹590-crore fraud was committed by certain employees and others at a Chandigarh branch using a specific set of Haryana government accounts. In that case, the discrepancies were detected when departments requested account closures, and the state vigilance bureau arrested multiple accused for siphoning public money using fake debit memos. Following that scam, the Haryana government had de-empanelled both private banks and tightened guidelines for parking public funds.
Forged signatures, fictitious accounts
The FIR, registered on the MC’s complaint, reveals a calculated siphoning of public funds through forgery. The civic body had reportedly parked around ₹160 crore in FDs at the branch over a period of time. However, the FIR alleges that bank officials opened fictitious accounts and diverted the FD amounts into them using RTGS transfers.
The transfers were allegedly executed using forged signatures and counterfeit official stamps of the municipal authorities. To keep the embezzlement hidden, the accused allegedly provided fabricated paper records and bank statements to the MC to reassure them that the deposits were intact. The system collapsed when the MC tried to redeem a ₹58-crore FD, only to discover that the bank statement was forged and the actual municipal account was empty. The authorities suspect such a massive transfer could not have occurred without the active collusion of internal staff and bank personnel.
Bank files counter-complaint
Responding to the developments, a spokesperson for Kotak Mahindra Bank said that the bank has initiated a detailed reconciliation of the MC’s fixed deposits and linked bank accounts following the civic body’s instructions. Based on the records examined so far, the bank confirmed that all account opening processes, KYC documentation, authorised signatories, and instructions received from the MCwere in order. It maintained that the accounts and transactions were handled in strict adherence to due process and applicable banking norms.
The bank added that a significant portion of the review amount has already been reconciled with the MC and the remaining process is continuing in a streamlined manner.
In line with its governance standards and to ensure an independent and comprehensive examination, the bank has filed its own formal complaint with the Panchkula police and is cooperating with the government authorities and law-enforcement agencies.
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