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CBI unearths existence of 'bank mafia' in Calcutta, Port Blair

The CBI on Saturday said it had unearthed existence of a 'bank mafia' in Calcutta and at Port Blair in the Andamans, which was helping a section of public servants launder billions of rupees in black money.

CBI Additional Director U N Biswas said the 'mafia,' comprising a section of bankers, were helping corrupt public servants to create and operate savings bank accounts and fixed deposits under fictitious names for money-laundering operations, in return for money.

Investigations, he said, revealed that some FDs had been created under well-known names like those of cricketer Sourav Ganguly, film producer Bobby Kapoor, director David Dhawan, actor-model Milind Soman and Bengali film actress Debashree Roy, besides models Marc Robinson, Rhea Pillai and Rahul Dev.

To a question, he said the addresses given against the names were not those of the personalities, but the CBI would talk to them for a routine check-up. "This is legally required."

Biswas said the scam came to light last month when two persons from Port Blair gave information that 28 high value fixed deposits had been created at the Indian Overseas Bank's branch there on a single day on January two, 1997.

The informers, Biswas said, claimed that the funds invested in the FDs belonged to some public servants of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands who had surreptitiously invested their black money under fictitious names.

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