Corporation Bank, B. Raj, Branch Manager,Gurgaon; M. Khanna, Assistant Branch Manager, LIC, Gurgaon, Haryana
The government banker doesn’t disappoint us when it comes to investing our black money to make it white and ropes in an LIC official. Both would work together to make it happen
The Cobrapost journalist walks into this branch of Corporation Bank in a tony business address in Gurgaon and meets Branch Manager B. Raj. Our reporter puts his proposition on the table: He wants to invest Rs. 1 crore now. More money, about Rs. 25–26 crore, is expected in March. The only condition is we don’t want TDS as we don’t wish to show anything in our books.
Without wasting any time Raj starts briefing our reporter about a plan.
We remind him that the amount is big and it should be for a long term.
“Jitna bhi daal dein (You can put in any amount),” Raj assures.
But this is a fixed deposit plan. We ask him for a plan where there will be no TDS, such as insurance, maybe LIC.
He proactively calls M. Khanna, an LIC official, for consultation. While we wait for her, Raj talks about his rich experience in handling black money.
Would all the money go directly to LIC or through the Bank? Raj is aware these kinds of transactions are in cash and understands where we are coming from.
He says the money will go directly to LIC and casually asks: “Cash hai … saara cash hai (Is it cash … all in cash?).”
Our reporter says all the money is in cash and he needs a locker to safe keep Rs. 8–7 crore. Raj agrees to provide a locker and use that money into investment to convert it into white: “Main kar doonga (I will do it).”
Is it the safest method?
Raj is confident to explain: “Wo scheme hi aisi hai ki cash ko white mein convert karna fir … uske andar hi aata hai (The scheme is such … meant for you to convert cash into white … it all comes in it).”
He further tells our reporter that the scheme is valid only till March, implying that the reporter should rush.
Raj says: “Thoda thoda divide hota hai tabhi…ek jagah rehne se na … divert humesha hona chahiye (When it is divided in lesser amount … if it is at one place … it should always be diverted).” We should not put all our eggs in one basket.
LIC official M. Khanna has arrived now and coincidentally our reporter finds out that he has met with her earlier, to discuss a similar proposition. In the previous meeting with our reporter, Khanna had agreed to convert our black money into white.
Khanna recognizes him immediately. After the initial greetings, she comes straight to business. She tells Raj: “DD banwa do… PAN number wagaireh sub hai hi (Make a DD … PAN number etc. is there).”
Khanna explains in detail how the process needs to be taken forward. She tells Raj she will make three policies.
Raj lists out the documents required for creating the policies. Our reporter asks him that nothing should be disclosed to anyone. Raj assures him: “Sir aapne karwaya hai… humne jinse karwaya hai … ye karne wale hai (Sir she has got it done … we do it through the person … she is here who is going to do it).”
Our reporter asks how much can we deposit in one go. Khanna is cautious in dealing with black money. She suggests splitting the money: “Aisa karte hain do do teen teen din ke gap par karwate hai … ekdum se nahi karwate hain (Let’s do it in two to three days’ gap … let’s not do it in one shot).”
To be safer, Khanna instructs the reporter to apply for a loan against the investment. Almost 60% of the investment will be given to us in cheque.
She explains: “Liability create ho jayegi na books mein …loan show karte ho jab loan hai toh iska matlab ki aapki dendaari ho gayi … liability ho gayi … toh loan toh lena chahiye (Liability will be created in the books … when you show the loan, it means it has become a debt for you … it is a liability … so loan should be taken).” As somewhere else in other interview, Khanna here too advises us to avail of loan on the money we invest with LIC. This way we would get more than half the money converted into white instantly, and then we can show all transactions in our books as legitimate.
Now, there’s an issue of routing the money to the investment. Raj comes up with an innovative solution: “Cash hi aapke DD banake … aapke account mein dalwaoonga …kuch inko doonga … wo aapki cash ki entry show hi nahin hogi (From the cash I will make a DD … put it in your account … some I will give to her [Khanna] … there will no entry of your cash).”
Raj’s idea is to route the black money, by making a demand draft, and depositing it into an account with his bank to pay Khanna for investment into the LIC product.
But we would have to pay the commission: “Thoda sa DD ka commission ka aapko dekhna padega … theek hai na Sir (You will have to take care of the commission charged for making DD … is that ok Sir)?”
This way our cash would be converted into DD to make an otherwise impossible thing to happen.
Raj would help count us our crores of cash by making the counting machine available to us at his branch.
Khanna would get a demand draft or a cheque from the new account to buy us policies. Raj tells her to get us several policies so that all the cash can be split and be hidden from the eyes of government agencies.
At the end of the meeting he says to reassure us: “Wo mera kaam hai ab … kaise karna hai (That is my job now … how to do it).”
Our reporter and Raj promise to meet again to take the deal forward.
On being contacted after the expose, the government banker asks us to come to his branch with all our hard cash and tells us he will do as we had discussed with him in our previous meeting. But when the reporter tells him who he is, he didn’t say anything and puts the phone down.
