MUMBAI: The ED has written to four banks, accusing their officials of helping a bullion trader based at Zaveri Bazar of bringing in Rs 150 crore in demonetised currency into legal channels through fictitious transactions.The cash was deposited into accounts of several shell companies (entities that exist only on paper) immediately after demonetisation and then transferred into the trader’s account through RTGS (real-time gross settlement system) to create a purportedly legitimate trail. He claimed the money was received from clients as payments for gold sales.The ED suspects the connivance of bank officials. An officer said the banks unquestioningly accepted huge deposits of demonetised currency into the shell accounts, which were part of an operation between hawala operators and the bullion trader.The deposited notes were not even immediately counted, but nevertheless reflected in the accounts. In most cases, counting was done a day later; if the amount was found to be less than declared, or fake notes were discovered, the sum was deducted from the shell company’s account. The ED found several instances where a huge sum was deposited into such an account, but a day later thousands of rupees were debited. “Bank officials issued deposit receipts without counting notes. Later, corrections were made by simple debits,” the officer said.The bullion trader was unable to provide the details of customers who made such sizeable payments. He claimed he had received purchase orders on phone and handed over gold to unknown persons. The ED did not believe his story and froze his account. But by then the trader had shifted much of the money into other accounts. The ED thus found only Rs 8 crore in the account under probe.The agency has discovered that most people associated with the shell companies are fake. The companies had made no other transactions except transferring money into the trader’s account in instalments.An officer said that after demonetisation, many individuals with unaccounted cash rushed to convert it into gold. The bullion trader’s operation involved collecting demonetised currency for a commission and selling gold at a premium. He then deposited the collected money into accounts of shell companies with the help of hawala operators.A similar case was unearthed by the ED over a week ago in Kalbadevi where it found shell accounts holding about Rs 70 crore. Money came into the accounts as payments made to a bullion trader.