Black money will be routed through an account into investment by DD and then the account would be closed, and any amount of cash would do
Playing the friend of a politician who wants to invest Rs. 50 lakh of black money, the Cobrapost journalist meets S. Singh, head of this branch of HDFC Bank in Central Delhi. Singh suggests ways in which this money could be converted into white, step by step, without appearing on the radar of the Income Tax Department.
Suggesting a one-time payment scheme, Singh elaborates on how this could be done: “Account khulega unka… passport se account khulega. Usmein cash jama kar denge hum. Usmein fir kisi bhi amount ka DD bana ke investment kar denge. Fir account hum band kar denge… band kar sakte hain ek saal baad (We will open an account, with your passport. We will deposit the cash in it. Then we will make DD for any amount from the deposit and make an investment. After that we will close the account. We can close the account after a year).”
Could the bank provide him with a locker to stash Rs. 5–7 crore? Although his branch didn’t have a locker, Singh says he would certainly help him get one in another branch. “Lockers nahin hai… dekh lenge … pehle account khul jayega. Jaakar dilwa denge. Bahut saari branches hain humari. Rajendra Nagar mein humari Sir branch hai. Wahan par hum locker facility aapko de sakte hain, bada to nahin medium size mil payega. Bade to pata hai kya hota hai? Jaise branches khulti hain na to pehle malik le lete hain. Panch–chhe hain bade locker, doh mil jayenge (There are no lockers here. We will see. First, account will be opened, then I will personally go there to get you one. We have so many branches. We have a branch in Rajendra Nagar, Sir. We can offer you locker facility there, not of big size but medium. You know as soon as branches open, people grab them all. There are five–six big lockers. You will get two).”
Has he handled such transactions in the past? Replies Singh: “Sir humnein toh, humnein jo hai Janakpuri, Rohini mein panch crore rupaye dalwaye hue hain (Sir, I have got cash deposits of Rs. 5 crore in Janakpuri and Rohini). He then shows some papers and claims: “Ye jo fund humara hai, ismein bhi hai, ispe humare Sir 498 crore rupaye dale hue hain, ye November tak ki hai (Even in this fund of ours, Sir, we received investments worth Rs. 498 crore. This figure is up to November). It was obvious that Rs. 50 lakh was a pittance compared to the investments his branch had managed. It was not clear, however, if all the investments were done in cash, although what he claimed was unmistakably suggestive of that in its content: “Pachas lakh to agar aap keh rahe ho to kuchh bhi nahin hai, kar denge koi problem nahi hai (If you are talking of Rs. 50 lakh, then it is nothing. We will do it, no problem).”
S. Singh’s reaction to the investigation: When reached for his reaction, Singh outright rejected saying he said nothing.
