CBI Probes Rs 2 Crore Fraud At India’s Geneva Mission Linked To Crypto-Gambling

The CBI has launched an investigation into the alleged embezzlement of more than 2 lakh Swiss francs (around Rs 2 crore) at India’s Permanent Mission in Geneva by a former accounts officer, who is suspected of siphoning off the funds to bankroll crypto-gambling activities, officials said.

Mohit, who joined the Permanent Mission in Geneva on December 17, 2024, as an assistant section officer, was entrusted with the task of physically submitting payment instructions to the Union Bank of Switzerland (UBS), where the Mission maintains accounts in US dollars and Swiss francs.

The irregularities were detected in the Swiss franc account. The Mission routinely makes payments to Swiss vendors in CHF based on invoices carrying pre-printed QR codes embedded with the vendors’ bank and invoice details.

Physical copies of these QR codes, along with payment instruction slips signed by the Attache (Administration and Establishment) and the drawing and disbursing officer, Tushar Lakra, are submitted to UBS for processing.

It was standard practice to collate multiple QR codes under a single bank payment instruction slip, and Mohit was assigned the responsibility of carrying these QR codes and payment slips to the bank.

He also had account viewing rights, along with the Head of Chancery, Amit Kumar.

Investigators suspect that Mohit covertly replaced some vendor QR codes with self-generated ones, diverting payments into his personal CHF account at UBS instead of the intended vendors’ accounts.

Using this method, he allegedly siphoned off over 2 lakh Swiss francs — more than Rs 2 crore — into his personal account this year. During the process, the pre-printed acknowledgement slips attached to the QR codes remained undisturbed.

Mohit is also accused of concealing the diversion by editing monthly bank statements, replacing his own name with that of the legitimate vendors. These doctored statements were used during routine reconciliations, effectively neutralising a key financial safeguard and allowing the misappropriation to go undetected for several months.

The fraud came to light when auditors noticed duplicate payments made to a local vendor, Ejey Travels, triggering a detailed review of transactions.

The analysis revealed a suspected loss of around CHF 200,000, or roughly Rs 2 crore. When confronted, Mohit submitted a written confession admitting that he diverted the funds to finance his crypto-gambling activities.

He was subsequently repatriated to India along with his family.

Mohit claimed that he had paid CHF 12,830 to Ejey Travels for deposit into the Mission’s account, and corresponding entries were found in the account records.

Additionally, amounts of CHF 9,825 and CHF 28,000 were credited by Mohit into the Mission’s account before his repatriation.

The CBI has registered a case against him under charges of criminal breach of trust, forgery, falsification of accounts and provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act.

Officials said this case is among several instances where government employees have allegedly embezzled public funds to channel money into online trading, gaming, gambling or crypto-related activities.

Earlier this year, the CBI arrested Rahul Vijay, a senior finance manager with the Airports Authority of India, for allegedly misappropriating over Rs 232 crore of public funds and diverting them into personal online trading accounts.

The agency has also booked Bank of India officer Hitesh Singla for allegedly siphoning off more than Rs 16 crore from 127 accounts, including dormant ones, which were purportedly funnelled into online trading and cryptocurrency dealings.