Reports suggest that there is a feeling at the highest levels that the hype around currency shortage is being created to mislead the nation, at least when enough cash is available in the country
The Central government is forming a multi-agency task force under the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) to investigate the cash crunch in ATMs across the country.
According to reports by Zee Business, the special team has been asked to submit to its report in the next 15 days.
Reports suggest that there is a feeling at the highest level that the hype around the currency shortage was created to mislead the nation. Sources said that it was a political conspiracy to mislead the nation, given that it is an election year.
The finance ministry has said that the reason behind the cash crunch will be known only after a detailed report on the issue is prepared. The ministry said that appropriate action will be taken depending on the outcome of the report.
An IB report available with Zee Business suggests that the Financial Intelligence Unit will act as a nodal investigating agency in the probe that is carried out by the multi-agency task force. Currently 2,600 branches of government and private banks are on the radar of the investigating agencies.
The report also suggests that the banks have been asked to submit the report any suspicious transaction and activity to the FIU at the earliest. “Red flag indicators have been inserted in small and inactive bank accounts, to get information related to multiple withdrawals from these accounts through immediate alerts, which is being monitored at the control room of the FIU,” the report says.
The FIU has upgraded its FINEX server in recent past, which will help it by sending alerts related to real-time transactions as well as suspicious transactions. In addition, the Income Tax department has been raiding and surveying at several states that are suffering from the cash crisis.
The banks have been advised to conduct an internal forensic audit of the transactions and a team of senior bank officers has also been formed in each bank to monitor every activity of its branches. Instructions have been given to all banks to submit its balance report, balance status, cash report, reports of Jan Dhan accounts and zero balance accounts on the daily basis. Reports related to suspicious accounts and their transaction information have been sought separately.
Under the process, the alerts will be first sent to a senior official of the branch and then it will be sent to the head office of the bank and later to the FIU, which will be responsible to share the alert with the concerned department.
A monitoring committee has been created in the Ministry of Finance to monitor the activities of government employees. The committee includes intelligence, revenue officers along with members from other agencies.
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 "Cash crunch")
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