Operation Red Spider was an anti-

money laundering Money laundering is the process of concealing the origin of money, obtained from illicit activities such as drug trafficking, corruption, embezzlement or gambling, by converting it into a legitimate source. It is a crime in many jurisdictions ...

sting operation of an online magazine, '' Cobrapost''. ''Cobrapost'' released video footage, recorded largely by hidden cameras, showing high-ranking officials and some employees of the top three

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

n banks suggesting to an undercover reporter methods to launder money. The officials offered safe deposit lockers to stash away the black money, accounts that did not adhere to

Reserve Bank of India The Reserve Bank of India, chiefly known as RBI, is India's central bank and regulatory body responsible for regulation of the Indian banking system. It is under the ownership of Ministry of Finance, Government of India. It is responsible for ...

guidelines, and 'benami' (false) accounts to facilitate the conversion of the

black money A black market, underground economy, or shadow economy is a clandestine market or series of transactions that has some aspect of illegality or is characterized by noncompliance with an institutional set of rules. If the rule defines the se ...

and keep the depositor's identity a secret. The editor of ''Cobrapost'', Aniruddha Bahal, placed the video footage into the public domain on 14 March 2013. According to Rajiv Takru, Secretary of Financial Services, Government of India, all Indian government agencies and regulators worked together to probe charges. On 14 March 2013

conducted an inquiry into possible violation of its KYC (Know Your Customer) and AML (anti-money laundering) guidelines by

ICICI Bank ICICI Bank Limited is an Indian Private bank. It is headquartered at Mumbai. It offers a wide range of banking products and financial services for corporate and retail customers through a variety of delivery channels and specialized subsidiari ...

HDFC Bank HDFC Bank Limited (also known as HDB) is an Indian banking and financial services company headquartered in Mumbai. It is India's largest private sector bank by assets and world's 10th largest bank by market capitalisation . It is the third lar ...

and Axis Bank. Following the enquiry, penalty of Rs 5 crore on Axis Bank, Rs 4.5 crore on

and Rs 1 crore on

was imposed by RBI. On 15 March 2013 ICICI Bank suspended 18 employees. On 16 March 2013

appointed Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu to carry out an independent forensic inquiry of bank employees who are encouraging customers to evade income tax.

References

{{Fraud Financial crimes Corruption in India Tax evasion in India Wealth in India 2013 in India Financial regulation in India Money laundering Organized crime activity Ethically disputed business practices Informal economy Corporate governance in India ICICI Bank Banking in India Corporate crime Red Spider Investigative journalism

See also

References