'ED probe on Paytm Payments Bank if...': Revenue secretary's big disclosure

The Enforcement Directorate will probe Paytm Payments Bank if any fresh charges of fund siphoning are found, Revenue Secretary Sanjay Malhotra told Reuters on Saturday.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has ordered thepayments bank unit of One 97 Communications, popularlyknown as Paytm, to stop accepting fresh deposits in its accountsor popular wallets from March.

"If there are any fresh charges of money laundering against Paytm by RBI, those will be investigated by Directorate of Enforcement as per the law of the land," said Malhotra.

The Reserve Bank had earlier this week directed the lender to stop accepting deposits or top-ups in customer accounts, wallets, FASTags and other instruments after February 29.

Paytm payments bank reportedly had lakhs of non-KYC (Know Your Customer) compliant accounts and in thousands of cases single PANs were used for opening multiple accounts.

There were instances where the total value of transactions - running into crores of rupees, much beyond regulatory limits in minimum KYC pre-paid instruments raising money laundering concerns, sources said. According to an analyst, Paytm Payments Bank has about 35 crore e-wallets. Of this, about 31 crore are dormant while only about 4 crore would be operative with either no balance or a small balance.

An unusually high number of dormant accounts are prone to have been used as mule accounts.

So, there were major irregularities in KYC, which exposed the customers, depositors and wallet holders to serious risk. Sources said the RBI in 2021 detected serious KYC Anti Money Laundering violations and the bank was directed to address these deficiencies. However, they continued to persist.