HR manager siphons off Rs1.63 crore

Buys two flats, fancy car and holidays in Switzerland

MUMBAI: At 28, he had everything going for him — a job in a multinational bank and a salary of Rs10 lakh a year. But he wanted more, and thought he could get it by cleverly working the system.

For a whole year, he was perhaps the envy of his friends as he zipped around in his Skoda, bought two flats and even took a vacation in Switzerland. The bubble has now burst and he is behind bars.

The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the Mumbai crime branch on Friday arrested assistant HR manager of Deutsche Bank, Gautam Deepak Baan, for allegedly defrauding the bank of Rs1.63crore.

According to the police, Baan, who was at the Lower Parel branch, used to handle the suspense account of the bank. Money is first deposited in the suspense account of the bank and later transferred to the salary accounts of employees.

“Salary accounts of employees who have left the bank should be closed, but instead of closing their accounts, Baan used to transfer the money from the suspense account to the salary accounts of the employees, and then transfer the money from there to his own account,” said senior police inspector Vasant Tajne of NM Joshi Marg police station, where the bank registered a complaint against Baan a few days ago.

He added that since Baan was handling the salary accounts, and was an HR person, he thought nobody would suspect him. 

Tajne said the fraud was uncovered when Baan recently requested the bank to close the account of an employee. “Since normally, the account holder himself requests the closure of an account, the bank smelt foul play when an HR department employee made such a request. The bank then made inquires and learnt that the account Baan wanted to close belonged to a person who had quit a year ago. Further inquiries revealed Baan had made several transactions from that account. From 2007 till October 14, he had kept open at least 17 such accounts of former bank employees.”

“Baan drew a monthly salary of Rs80,000 and it is shocking that he could go to such lengths to make a quick buck. He has two cars and had booked a third one. He also has two flats in Mumbai. He recently went to Switzerland on a holiday too,” said Tajne.
The case was then transferred to the EOW. Baan was produced before the Esplanade court at Azad Maidan, which remanded him to police custody.  

The police have recovered jewellery worth Rs12.40 lakh from a Kandivli bank locker, a Rs9-lakh Skoda, Rs1.5 lakh of share certificates, Rs2 lakh in FDs. The police have also seized four debit/credit cards.

“This is an unusual modus operandi of fraud that we have come across. We are digging deeper to find out the extent of the fraud,” said joint commissioner of police (crime), Rakesh Maria, who heads the EOW..