New Delhi: The CBI has sought from the Chief Vigilance Officers of five banks, the details of financial transactions in the nostro accounts of Punjab National Bank on the basis of 293 fraudulent Letters of Undertaking (LoUs) issued by it to jewellers Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi.
The CBI has written to Canara Bank, Bank of India, State Bank of India, Allahabad Bank and Axis Bank seeking financial transactions into the nostro accounts of the Punjab National Bank on the basis of the LoUs, sources said.
The overseas branches of these banks in Antwerp, Frankfurt, Mauritius, Hong Kong and Bahrain had credited over Rs 11,400 crore into the nostro account of Punjab National Bank on the basis of the guarantees (LoUs) given by to Modi and Choksi, they said. The agency has now written to the vigilance officers seeking details of these transactions to unearth the money trail of Rs 11,400 crore. A nostro account refers to an account that a bank holds in a foreign currency in another bank overseas to enable foreign trade by its clients.
Talking to media persons, CBI Spokesperson Abhishek Dayal said, “CBI Director Alok Kumar Verma has directed the officers in-charge of these investigations to take all necessary steps to ensure that the bank fraud cases are concluded with a given time frame. He asked the officers not to spare anyone found involved in these scams”. According to sources the agency has also collected documents related to Nirav Modi from Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas, a leading law firm, at the start of the investigation. During the course of the searches after registering the FIR against Nirav Modi, the CBI felt that some files could be with law firm.
