THE Court of Appeal has ordered a bank here to open the books of one of its clients in connection with an investigation into a multi-million fraud case in India.

This means that the bank's client, an India-based finance firm, will have to let the authorities pore over, among other things, its correspondence with the bank and a detailed log of all movements of money in and out of its account.

The Attorney-General's Chambers (AGC) is asking to see these documents in response to a request by the Indian government, which is hot on the trail of the firm, now under investigation for fraud. The company allegedly cheated nearly US$18 million (S$25.7 million) out of various banks between 2000 and 2002.