Ex-Employee Claims Bank Was Blacklisted Before Account Opening
Anubhav Mishra, a former employee of the Municipal Corporation (MC) Chandigarh who worked in its accounts branch and is one of the accused in the Rs 116-crore IDFC First Bank scam, has claimed that the civic body had already blacklisted or de-empanelled the bank prior to the opening of its accounts. Mishra made these claims in an anticipatory bail application filed before the local court on Tuesday through his advocate Varinder Arora, in connection with the case registered by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
De-Empanelment Ordered by Former Commissioner
According to the bail plea, the de-empanelment was ordered by then Commissioner Anindita Mitra after the bank failed to deliver software for the property tax branch of the MC within the stipulated time. Mishra asserted that the entire process of empanelment, de-empanelment, and account management of banks was exclusively handled by the regular accountant and his counterparts in the accounts branch. As an outsourced contractual employee, Mishra claimed these matters were never within his purview.
Procedural Lapses Alleged in Account Opening
The petition also highlights a procedural lapse in the account opening proposal. The condition of parking 60% of funds with a government bank, which was routinely cited in other fund placement notes, was not incorporated in the present proposal. Mishra argued that any such lapse was on the part of another employee who had signed the proposal and was the regular dealing hand for all such matters.
Mishra Denies Knowledge and Involvement
Mishra claimed he was never informed about the de-empanelment of the bank and had never dealt with any account opening or closing file relating to the property tax branch. He also stated that he never received any OTP for sanctioning any withdrawal from the MC bank accounts. Merely registering his phone number with the bank did not authorise him to make any transaction independently in his personal capacity, he added.
Background of the Case
The FIR was initially registered against Mishra and bank officers in March following a complaint by the MC Commissioner, who reported over Rs 116 crore in suspected financial transactions and mismanagement in various accounts of Chandigarh Smart City Limited and the civic body in the IDFC First Bank branch in Sector 32. Mishra has been on the run for over four months.
