Pics: Spoorthi Ullal
Daijiworld Media Network - Mangaluru (JD)
Mangaluru, Dec 24: Rajendra Kumar, chairman of South Canara District Credit Cooperative (SCDCC) Bank on Saturday December 24 denied all allegations of accumulating black money after demonetisation and said that defamation case would be filed against a news channel that aired the allegations.
The clarification comes in the wake of reports telecast by a TV channel alleging accumulation of unaccounted wealth by SCDCC Bank since demonetisation was announced on November 8.
Addressing a press meet at the SCDCC Bank head office here, Rajendra Kumar said that the Rs 386 crore deposited from November 11 to November 16 was collected from 1,166 cooperative societies in DK and Udupi and was not 'black money' as alleged.
"SCDCC Bank has maintained transparency in all its transactions and the allegations of black money are baseless. "The news channel has deliberately tried to defame the Bank. The Bank's image has been dented due to the allegations and hence we will file a defamation case against the news agency. If there is any valid proof, let it be made public. We are ready for any enquiry.
"The Bank is bound to comply to all the regulations of RBI and will give information about every deposit above Rs 2.5 lac. The bank will cooperate with the RBI during the enquiry. We urge people and the staff not to pay heed to rumours," he said.
"It was aired that in five days from November 11 to 16, black money amounting to over Rs 300 crore was deposited through 120 fake accounts and about Rs 600 crore was made white in three days. But the bank has followed all the norms under the Co-operative Societies Act and has maintained transparency," he said.
When asked about the exact documents relating to loans given to and deposits by agriculturists and non-agriculturists, the chairman said that he does not possess any. The same answer was repeated for various other questions asked by the media persons.
However, towards the end of the press meet, the chairman admitted that the Bank had recieved a notice from the Enforcement Directorate (ED) about the transactions between November 11 and November 16.