Jagatsinghpur: The cash officer and accountant of State Bank of India, Jagatsinghpur branch, are under scanner for alleged unlawful exchange of currency denominations worth Rs 22 lakh with a trader.
According to sources, SBI cash officer Suresh Kumar Das and accountant Uma Patnaik are accused of exchanging denominations of Rs 500 amounting to Rs 22 lakh and gave denominations of Rs 20 worth the same to a trader Prakash Chandra Sahoo from Bhubaneswar. Local businessmen, who have accounts at the SBI branches, further alleged that the SBI staff exchanged denominations of Rs 500 and Rs 2,000 of the trader and supplied him notes of Rs 20 and Rs 10 for Rs 22 lakh and received 2-3 per cent commission.
Police on Saturday detained Sahoo’s car and seized Rs 22 lakh from his possession. Sahoo, Das and Patnaik too have confessed to the deal.
“The cash officer and accountant exchanged currency denominations worth Rs 22 lakh without my knowledge. Though there is no such RBI guideline citing the amount to be exchanged, it is illegal to provide denominations of Rs 20 in exchange for Rs 500 currency notes worth Rs 22 lakh” chief branch manager of SBI, Jagatsinghpur branch, Susant Kumar Adhikari to TNIE.
Sub-divisional police officer Ramesh Chandra Singh said the owner of these denominations have been asked to show proof against collecting such a huge sum. However, no case has so far been registered, he added.
