Don’t worry about your black money, it is safe investing with us, “Itna mat daro hum bank mein hain (Don’t fear like this).”
The reporter meets S. Yadav, who is working as deputy manager with this branch of HDFC Bank in West Delhi. Preliminaries over, Yadav is told upfront that a politician wants to invest Rs. 50 lakh to make it white. Could he help?
Yadav is quick to suggest two investment plans to convert the black money into white. One of them is HDFC Crest. But the politician wants to keep it confidential. Yadav says: “Itna mat daro hum bank mein hain. Main bata raha hun fact, hum log kisi se koi bhi information share nahi karte, because problem yeh hai na. Humpe trust karo. Agar aapke account mein ek rupaya bhi hai na to humlog share nahin karne wale kisi aur se, kyunki otherwise agar humne share kari to sabse pehle humari job jayegi. Koi problem nahi hai (Don’t fear like this. We are working in a bank. I am telling you a fact. We never share any information with anybody because this is the problem … trust me, if you have even a single rupee in your account we won’t share anything about it with anybody because if we share the first casualty would then be my job).”
Would the cash be invested directly or would it be routed through an account? Has he ever facilitated such cash investments? Yadav is an old hand in this business and tells the reporter not to worry at all. He says: “Account ke through jayega. Frankly speaking aap iske liye bilkul tension mat lo. It’s been 5 years. Mai same thing karta hun saare customers ka aur rahi baat iski to pehle maine bahut saare ache customers ko pehle bhi deal kar rakha hai. Trust ek hota hai na. Main yahan kaam karun kahin bhi kaam karun, aap mere upar blindly trust karo. Aap uski tension mat lena (It will go through the account. Frankly speaking, you need not to take any tension for it. It has been 5 years. I do the same thing for all customers. I assure you that I have dealt with many good customers. Then there is this thing called trust. Whether I am working here or somewhere else, trust me blindly. Don’t take tension for it).”
If that’s the case, then can the bank provide the politician with a locker to keep the Rs. 5–7 crore in cash which he is expecting in February? No problem, but first start the relationship, advises Yadav: “Locker mil jayega koi problem nahin hai. Abhi aap ek relationship start karo (You will get the locker, there is no problem. Simply, start a relationship with us). Everything will be there. Bank aapke liye pura saath dega (Our bank is there with you, always).”
Yadav does not have any problem either with helping to transfer some of the money to England. “Koi problem nahin hai (There is no problem).” Not to worry. Koi tension nahi hai (There is no tension),” Yadav says.
Sameer Yadav’s reaction to the investigation: At first, he is happy to receive the call and agrees to come over to meet the reporter but onec he come to know his identity refuses to acknowledge the same in the same breath saying he had not said anything like that.
