CBI files charge sheet in IDFC First Bank scam in Haryana

The CBI has filed a charge sheet in Panchkula against 15 accused in the alleged misappropriation of Rs 504 crore belonging to the Haryana government. Those named include six officials from IDFC First Bank and AU Small Finance Bank, three public servants from key state departments, and partners of shell entities.

Panchkula: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Thursday filed a charge sheet in a Special Court against 15 accused, including three public servants and six bank officials of IDFC First Bank and AU Small Finance Bank, in the case related to misappropriation of Rs 504 crore belonging to the Haryana government.

“The charge sheet filed in the Special CBI Court in Panchkula invoked penal provisions of criminal conspiracy, criminal breach of trust, cheating, forgery, destruction of evidence, and offences under the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988,” a CBI statement said.

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All accused are currently under judicial custody, it added.

The 15 accused charge sheeted by the CBI include six bank officials of IDFC First Bank and AU Small Finance Bank, three public servants of Haryana government belonging to Haryana Power Generation Corporation Limited, Development and Panchayat Department, and Haryana School Shiksha Pariyojna Parishad.

The charge sheet also names two shell entities along with their three partners/directors and one private person, the CBI said.

The case pertains to the alleged misappropriation of government funds to the tune of Rs 504 crore, siphoned off from bank accounts of various government departments of Haryana by bank officials in criminal connivance with public servants posted at the concerned departments, the statement said.

The case was originally registered by the Haryana State Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau and was subsequently transferred to the CBI for investigation.

The federal probe agency said in a statement that the charge sheet against the 15 accused was filed as investigation in relation to their role in the financial scam had been completed for the listed offences.

The IDFC First Bank fraud first came to light in February this year as an official in the Haryana government’s Development and Panchayats department sought to close its account and transfer the balance to another bank.

“It was during this small banking transaction that a scam of this scale surfaced, showing massive discrepancies between the records and the actual balance,” the CBI said.

Haryana’s Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau initially lodged an FIR in the case, but the state government subsequently transferred it to the CBI.

The Enforcement Directorate, too, subsequently launched a parallel probe.

The IDFC First Bank said that it had repaid Rs 557 crore to the concerned Haryana government departments.