No fake accounts being operated by Kotak Mahindra Bank, says spokesman

Confirming that it has a robust system of regularly and proactively filing necessary reports with the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) of the Government of India, Kotak Mahindra Bank on Friday denied that they were operating any fake accounts.

Rohit Rao, the bank's spokesman, said in a statement, "The bank denies that there were any fake accounts. The bank is extending full cooperation to the investigating authorities."

Rao was commenting on reports of officers of the income tax department visiting a branch office of the bank recently to probe the accounts of two persons whom they suspected of fraudulent financial activity.

It was earlier reported that fake accounts worth Rs.70 crore were found in the bank's Kasturba Gandhi Marg branch in New Delhi. The "suspect" accounts were in the name of Ramesh Chand and Raj Kumar.

The bank in its statement said, "No KYC (Know Your Customer) deficiencies were noted in these two customers. The income tax department did question the branch manager and no adverse report has been submitted to the bank so far."

Kotak Mahindra Group