Police in Mumbai, India, have arrested eight people, including senior executives of top state banks, over a suspected scam. They say bribes were paid to secure large corporate loans.
Senior figures from the Bank of India, the Central Bank of India and the Punjab National Bank were arrested.
The Bombay stock exchange recorded significant losses after the arrests were made public.
The BBC reports the arrests were the latest in a series of corruption scandals.
These include financial irregularities at the Commonwealth Games, a scam involving homes for war widows in the state of Maharashtra and the resignation of a government minister in a row over the issue of mobile phone contracts.
The Central Bureau of Investigation said that the chairman of Money Matters, a financial services group based in Mumbai, and two other executives from the firm were among those arrested.
Correspondents say that the company specialises in advising corporate clients on how to borrow money.
The CBI said that Money Matters was "allegedly bribing senior officials of public sector banks and financial institutions for facilitating large scale corporate loans".
All eight officials appeared in court in Mumbai on Wednesday and were remanded in custody for five days.
