2nd PNB scam detected: Official accused in Nirav Modi case facilitated another Rs 9.9 crore fraud
The second fraud was also detected at PNB’s Brady House branch (Representational Image, Courtesy: MSN)
The Punjab National Bank (PNB) on Thursday detected another fraud case of around Rs 9.9 crore at the same Mumbai branch where the infamous $2 billion Nirav Modi scam took place.
According to the police complaint filed by the bank, the scam was carried out at its Brady House branch via the issuance of unauthorised Letters of Understanding (LoU).
The development comes weeks after the country’s second-biggest public sector bank detected unauthorised transactions worth almost Rs 12,600 crore conducted by jewellery designer Nirav Modi and his uncle Mehul Choksi with the purported involvement of a few employees of the bank.
The latest alleged fraud involves officials of Chandri Papers and Allied Products Pvt Ltd.
CBI has booked the bank’s ex-DGM Gokulnath Shetty, who facilitated the fraudulent transactions in the Nirav Modi case, and Manoj Hanumat Kharawat along with promoters of Chandri Papers in connection with the second case.
In the complaint, the bank has alleged that Gokulnath Shetty issued two LoUs to SBI branch in Antwerp using the same modus operandi to Chandri Papers last April.
Meanwhile, in the Nirav Modi case, the CBI and ED have registered FIRs and intensified the crackdown, with the ED seizing jewellery and assets worth thousands of crores of rupees, the I-T department attaching various properties and the CBI questioning several senior executives of his company.
Last Thursday, the CBI registered a fresh case against two firms of Nirav Modi. The scam that started in 2011, was detected in the third week of January this year, after which the PNB officials reported it to the concerned agencies.
Reserve Bank of India governor Urjit Patel, on Wednesday, admitted that some businesses were hand in glove with lenders, allowing them to cheat and loot money from the country.
