As many as 23 public and private sector banks and insurance companies were on Monday accused of “running a nation-wide money laundering racket, blatantly violating laws of the land” by online portal Cobrapost.
“In its continuing undercover operation, spanning several months, Cobrapost finds dozens and dozens of major public sector banks, and many more private banks, across the country are blatantly involved in money laundering, as are major insurers. In all, 23 banks and insurance companies have been exposed,” the portal said in a release.
Cobrapost alleged that the financial sector entities offered to open bank accounts and lockers for customers without following the Know Your Customer (KYC) norms, convert their black money into white and obtain fictitious PAN cards.
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Those named in the expose include State Bank of India (SBI), the Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC), Punjab National Bank (PNB), Bank of Baroda, Canara Bank, Reliance Life, Tata AIA, Yes Bank, Indian Bank, Indian Overseas Bank, IDBI Bank, Oriental Bank of Commerce, Dena Bank, Corporation Bank, Allahabad Bank, Central Bank of India, Dhanlaxmi Bank, Federal Bank, DCB Bank and Birla Sun Life. This is the second expose by Cobrapost. Earlier, on March 14, it had alleged money laundering by top private sector banks — HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank and Axis Bank.