Finance ministry orders probe.
Online media firm Cobrapost on Thursday alleged managers of the country's top-three private banks by market capitalisation - ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank and Axis Bank - had been offering 'money laundering' as products to people looking to park black money.
While the first three parts of the operation, codenamed 'Red Spider', dealt with Indian banks (both private and state-run), the fourth part targeted a couple of foreign banks.
The country's three largest private banks -- ICICI bank, HDFC Bank and Axis Bank -- were last month named by online portal Cobrapost for indulging in money laundering.
An online search for Mumbai Street Company, which has stake in firm owned by Cobrapost editor, drew a blank.
The company releases documentary showing top executives of dozens of realty firms offering to launder black money.
It includes banks such as HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank and Axis Bank, Bank of Baroda and Bank of India.
The inquiry report raises questions about the effectiveness of management control as well as that of the supervision process.
the training department in most banks is content with asking branch managers to send employees for drab classroom sessions once a year. The perception about such training is obvious from the fact that most branch managers send the names of employees they can do without.
The aim of the department is to check suspected tax evasion by the banking institutions and possible loss of revenue by illegal acts done by authorised individuals.
The sting, Operation Blue Virus, claims to have exposed about two dozen little known IT firms across the country, which in the garb of providing reputation management services on social media, also offer fake fan following and posting defamatory content using IP addresses of others by hacking into them.
Reserve Bank of India lens on mutual fund, insurance, gold coin sale by branch's non-sales staff
RBI had launched the investigation into the working of banks following the expose which showed some bankers giving suggestions to customers on ways to bypass regulatory norms.
Whistle-blowing website Cobrapost.com on Saturday slammed the clean chit given by the Reserve Bank of India to the money-laundering practices exposed by it in ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank and Axis Bank. The website had revealed how the top private banks in India helped encouraged money laundering by helping traders convert black money to white.
The sting operation carried out 'Cobrapost' giving details of alleged conspiracy by right-wing organisations to bring down Babri Masjid in 1992 has no evidentiary value for the Central Bureau of Investigation as it has already completed the investigation.
Questioning the timing of a 'sting' operation on the Babri Masjid demolition, the Bharatiya Janata Party on Friday alleged that it was "sponsored", accusing the Congress of using "pawns" to vitiate the atmosphere before elections and asked the Election Commission to stop its publication and telecast.
State-owned Indian Bank on Thursday said it has suspended an official who is accused of wrong doings by an online portal in an expose.
The regulator has sent show-cause notices to the erring banks and is awaiting their replies to take appropriate corrective measures.
It's important to note that most of the celebrities who were approached are yesteryear stars, over the hill and seemingly forgotten.
'Through this one step, and more steps that follow, log judte jayenge (more people will come together); I'm sure of that.'
A sting operation carried out by a news portal on Tuesday claimed that the government had failed to take action to stop the 1984 anti-Sikh riots and senior police officers "colluded" with the then government to teach Sikhs a "lesson".
Investigative website Cobrapost on Friday alleged that IT companies are misusing social media platforms like Facebook, YouTube and Twitter to artificially boost politicians popularity and malign their rivals, with many firms claiming to be working for BJP and Narendra Modi.
The 1992 Babri Mosque demolition was an "act of planned sabotage" and not a by frenzied mob of Hindu outfits, a news portal claimed on Friday on the basis of a sting operation it had carried over a period of two years.
In its latest undercover investigation, codenamed Operation Falcon Claw, Cobrapost has exposed a bunch of parliamentarians willing to not only write recommendation letters but also lobby with the petroleum ministry for a foreign company to help it secure oil exploration and rigging rights in the Northeast.
Web portal Cobrapost in its string of expose has alleged money laundering and other wrong doings by several public and sector financial institutions ranging from country's largest bank SBI to the youngest lender Yes Bank.
Staff of PSU banks, bank aspirants also caught offering money laundering solutions in a new expose.
The country's three largest private banks -- ICICI bank, HDFC Bank and Axis Bank -- were last week accused of indulging in money laundering both within and outside with an online portal, Cobrapost, claiming that the sting operation conducted by it had revealed a scam.
Report by March 31; banks' gold coin sales, wealth management biz also under scanner.
Probes come after independent journalist accuses ICICI, HDFC, Axis Bank and cites video recordings collected by him as evidence.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has sent showcause notices to ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank and Axis Bank, the three private lenders named in the first of three Cobrapost 'sting' cases.
RBI deputy governor, K C Chakrabarty had also said that there was no money laundering involved as alleged by the Cobrapost.
The suspension is pending the bank's investigation into money laundering charges, sources in ICICI told PTI. The probe is expected to be completed in two weeks.
Their return on assets and fee income could be hit as the Reserve Bank might tighten other norms.
Both the regulator and bank managements will face the challenge of restoring confidence.
With the Financial Intelligence Unit deciding to probe three major banks for alleged money laundering, it is interesting to note that the same agency also conducted a probe in the HSBC money laundering case.
The RBI said it had not found initial evidence of money laundering against the three banks.
Launching a fresh attack on the Bharatiya Janata Party over the Gujarat snooping row, Congress leader Manish Tewari on Monday asked why no private security officer was provided if the woman in question was being protected at her father's behest.
The illegal snooping row intensified on Monday with the Bharatiya Janata Party rejecting Congress demand for a probe by a sitting Supreme Court judge and the ruling party accusing Narendra Modi of heading a "fascist" set up in Gujarat under which a woman was allegedly ordered to be stalked.
The Bhartiya Janata Party has demanded a Central Bureau of Investigation probe into the issue.
A joint sting operation by a private television channel and a Web site on Saturday claimed that policemen in Uttar Pradesh were found selling seized arms and ammunition stored at government storerooms for money.
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