ED raids 50 bank branches
Source: The Sangai Express / Courtesy - India Today

New Delhi, December 07 2016: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) today raided more than 50 banks across India over suspicions that the banks were making hawala transactions and laundering money in the wake of demonetisation.

Sources in the ED said the agency has carried out searches following allegations that black money was being converted into white by charging a special interest rate.

There have also been complaints about certain banks charging a certain amount of money to change the old bank notes of Rs 500 and Rs 1000, which were banned a month ago.

The agency said it is checking records of 50 branches of 10 banks across India where the maximum amount of cash in old currency notes was submitted.

An India Today TV reporter in Kolkata said the Camac Street branch of State-run Canara Bank was raided this morning.

The ED said it has launched an 'enquiry of records' operation at over 50 bank branches located in major cities like Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Chennai and others.

"The Enforcement Directorate is keeping a tab on those accounts in which huge amount of money has been deposited at one time," sources in the agency said.

"We have started checking those account who have suspicious transactions post-demonetisation," the sources added.

Officials said the sleuths and auditors are "looking at the banking transaction records post November 8" and instructions have been issued to these teams to ensure that regular operations and customer dealings are not affected due to the exercise.

The agency had recently arrested two Axis Bank employees working at a branch in Delhi while probing a similar instance under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act.

The ED last week had also conducted searches at 40 locations across the country in order to check black money held with currency exchanges, hawala dealers and others.

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