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₹42 lakh currency notes soiled in PNB in Kanpur, 4 suspended
Four officials of the Punjab National Bank (PNB) were suspended after a bank audit revealed that currency notes worth ₹42 lakhs were soiled by water that seeped inside the currency chest of the bank’s Pandu Nagar branch
Four officials of the Punjab National Bank (PNB) were suspended after a bank audit revealed that currency notes worth ₹42 lakhs were soiled by water that seeped inside the currency chest of the bank’s Pandu Nagar branch.
The issue was detected three months back but was kept under wraps, officials admitted.
Pawan Chopra, who joined as manager of the bank’s currency chest two days back, admitted that action against four officials had been initiated. “Bank has taken the matter seriously,” he said.
Suspension orders of three officials are with HT.
“The currency notes were kept inside an iron box that was kept on the floor and got soiled after water regularly seeped inside the trunk,” Chopra said. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) audit had taken place between July 25 and July 29, 2022, officials requesting anonymity said.
“The audit team had found currency worth ₹14, 74, 500 short and there was a difference of ₹10 lakh in maximum and minimum cash maintained at the chest,” they admitted.
The audit team also pointed out that 79 bundles of ₹10 notes and 49 bundles of ₹20 notes were found soiled.
After this, the entire cash was tallied. It was then discovered that ₹42 lakh worth of currency notes were soiled inside the chest.
The bank quickly suspended senior managers, currency chest, Devi Shankar and Bhaskar Kumar, two deputy managers Asharam and Rakesh Kumar. Bhaskar Kumar and Asharam had joined this chest in June and July respectively.
The wads of currency notes were not kept in the strong room but in the boxes, which were not opened in years, officials said.
The chest with concrete walls has a seepage issue and the moisture damaged the notes, said bank officials.
Branch manager of PNB Pandu Nagar branch, Sarvesh Srivastava said a zonal team from Varanasi had arrived to investigate. “This investigation is going on,” he said.
