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New Delhi: On Tuesday, officials said that the CBI conducted searches at 13 locations and registered an FIR in connection with Rs 820 crore that “erroneously” came to 41,000 UCO Bank account holders through IMPS in November this year. According to officials, the search operations were conducted on Monday and continued till late night. It covered Kolkata and Mangalore, they added.
The CBI action came following the FIR that was registered on a complaint from UCO Bank against two support engineers working with the bank and other unknown persons. In a statement, the agency spokesperson said that the CBI’s action followed the filing of a formal complaint (FIR) by UCO Bank against two of its support engineers as well as other unidentified individuals.
The agency spokesperson said in a statement, It alleged suspicious Immediate Payment Service (IMPS) transactions amounting to approximately Rs. 820 crore. During the searches, electronic evidence, including mobile phones, laptops, computer systems, email archives and debit/credit cards, were recovered, he said.
The agency said that between November 10 and 13 this year, over 8.53 lakh IMPS transactions took place in which Rs 820 crore originating from 14,000 account holders of private banks landed in the 41,000 accounts of UCO Bank customers.The UCO Bank has recovered Rs 649 crore or 79 per cent of the amount erroneously credited to some accounts of the bank via Immediate Payment Service.
In a regulatory filing, UCO Bank said that by taking various proactive steps, the bank blocked the recipients’ accounts and has been able to recover Rs 649 crore out of Rs 820 crore which is about 79 per cent of the amount. The transactions were “mistakenly” posted in the accounts despite originating banks registering “failed transactions”, it said.
The statement said, “Consequently, an approximate sum of Rs 820 crore allegedly found its way into UCO Bank accounts without proper debits from the originating banks’ account holders.” It is to be noted that the IMPS platform is operated by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI).
IMPS is a real-time interbank electronic funds transfer system that happens straight without intervention. It also said that Several UCO Bank customers withdrew the amount “benefiting wrongfully” from the transaction.
