ICICI, Axis and 5 other banks under ED scanner for money-laundering

More skeletons are tumbling out of the closet of the country's top banks, as the Enforcement Directorate (ED) is busting more modules of money-laundering. Initial investigations have revealed that seven top banks -- ICICI, ING Vysya, Kotak Mahindra Bank, IndusInd Bank, Dhanlaxmi Bank, YES Bank and DCB Bank – are allegedly involved in the forex scam.

On Wednesday, the ED busted a module of money-laundering case, where Oriental Bank of Commerce (OBC) and Axis Bank had facilitated a Ghaziabad-based trader, Manish Jain, to route black money worth than Rs 550 crore through banking channels, after interrogating Sanjay Aggarwal, who was arrested for transferring Rs 430 crore from Bank of Baroda (BoB).

Further investigations led to the arrest of Jain. Both are involved in remitting funds out of India illegally with the help of OBC and Axis Bank. "They used forged import documents against the imports, which never took place," said ED sources.

Jain has 77 accounts in OBC and 10 in Axis Bank – all in Ghaziabad branches. Bank records reveal that Rs 505 crore were deposited and remitted abroad from 2006 to 2010. An ED official said seven more banks, from where money has been transferred, are under investigation,.

Jain is carrying out Illegal operations in India as well as in Hong Kong through HSBC accounts. According to details available with dna, he is the owner of two firms in Hong Kong – Tanvi Enterprises and Pacific Exim. He has been depositing unaccounted cash in banks in India and transferring it to HSBC Bank in Hong Kong.

A part of money was transferred to China to settle unaccounted outstanding dues of various Indian importers. Under the garb of imports, foreign exchange to the tune of approximately Rs 557 crore was sent out of India through 11 bogus firms. Some of the companies are Daksh Impex, Pacific Exim (India), Alaska Trading, Aadinath Exim (India), Apple Computers, Sai International and Jai Bharat Impex.