Finmin, I-T to probe CitiBank fraud

The alleged Rs 400-crore (Rs 4 billion) fraud by a Citibank employee has caught the attention of the finance ministry, which is planning to investigate the matter.

The Income Tax (I-T) Department may seek details of the money invested by high net-worth individuals (HNIs) in the schemes offered to them.

A senior government official said it appeared to be a case of defalcation and that the tax department would look into the sources of funds invested by HNIs. "We are looking into the matter," the official said.

While the investigators have said that the money of the clients is safe, the investors will now have to satisfy the tax department that the money has come from the right channels. Citibank has already sent a report on the fraud case to the Reserve Bank of India, which will also inspect the matter.

Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, when asked for his comment on the matter, said if there was an individual misdemeanour that has to be acted on, the law would take its own course of action.

"There are regular regulations and all other precautions are being taken," he said, and assured there was no systemic failure and people's money remained safe in banks.

The Gurgaon police had discovered that a Citibank relationship manager, Shivraj Puri, duped about 20 HNI clients into investing in Citibank schemes, but their money was diverted to accounts opened in the name of his wife and two other suspects.

The police have said that there could be more than 20 affected clients. While Puri is untraceable, an FIR for cheating and forgery against a bank employee and three others was lodged and 18 accounts with about Rs 4 crore (Rs 40 million) were frozen on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, the police on day issued a lookout notice as a precautionary measure to alert airports so that they can track the suspects involved in the Citibank fraud.