Currency ban: Corruption prevails as new ₹2000 notes used to pay bribe in lakhs

₹2.9 lakhs was paid as bribery in ₹2000 notes in Gujarat. ACB has arrested the accused. Another incident reported bribery using new ₹2000 notes. 

Even before the new ₹2000 notes could hit the market all across the country, it seems the demonetisation move has failed to carve out corruption as two port trust officials have allegedly accepted ₹2.9 lakh bribery in all new ₹2000 currency notes in Gujarat.

According to reports in NDTV, an official of Gujarat's Anti-Corruption Bureau disclosed that Superintending Engineer P Srivivasu and Sub-Divisional officer K Komtekar of the Kandla Port Trust asked for a bribe of ₹4.4 lakh to clear pending bills of some private electrical firm and the recovered ₹2.9 lakh was collected in ₹2000 notes by a middleman. 

The owners of the electrical firm tipped off the ACB who set a trap to arrest the accused officials and their middleman. Currently, the agency is investigating on how the money was obtained in ₹2000 notes. 

Interestingly, due to strict rationing on the circulation of new currency notes, an individual can only withdraw ₹24,000 from a single bank account in a week.   

In another separate incident, Madya Pradesh State Education Board's three employees have been arrested for taking a bribe of ₹25,000 that includes five ₹2000 notes given by a clerk, reported the Indian Express.   

As per the report, the three officials asked for three lakh rupees but settled for one lakh rupees and the ₹25,000 was the first instalment as agreed upon by both the parties. 

This bribe was accepted in the office of the accused who have been released on bail, later.