Mumbai: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Wednesday filed its second charge sheet in connection with the Punjab National Bank (PNB) fraud case. The charge sheet was filed against absconding jeweller Mehul Choksi; his three companies - Gitanjali Gems Ltd., Gili India Ltd., and Nakshtra Brand Ltd.; and 14 other persons in the Rs 7080.86 crore bank fraud case. The CBI on Monday filed a charge sheet against Nirav Modi and others in the Rs 13,400 crore PNB fraud case.
CBI counsel A. Limosin and Omprakash on Wednesday filed the charge sheet before special judge P.K. Sharma. To a query raised by the judge, the lawyers informed the court that the copy of the charge sheet would be handed over to the accused on May 21, the next date of hearing.
Apart from Mehul Choksi and his three firms, those charge sheeted include four of his employees and associates; and ten officials of PNB, including the then MD and CEO Usha Ananthasubramanian, two executive directors K.V. Brahmaji Rao and Sanjiv Sharan, general manager (international banking division) Nehal Ahad, deputy manager Gokulnath Shetty, and single-window operator Manoj Karat.
According to the CBI, the modus operandi allegedly adopted by the accused was that during 2015 and 2017, the accused officials of PNB, in a criminal conspiracy with other accused in the case, fraudulently issued a large number of letters of undertaking (LoUs) for obtaining buyer's credit and FLCs to overseas banks in favour of the said three companies without any sanctioned limit or cash margin, and without making entries in the CBS system of the bank.
About the role of GM Nehal Ahad and other high-level bank officials, the CBI claimed that as officials holding higher responsibilities, they did not fulfill their duty of safeguarding the interests of PNB.
The agency said that further investigation was underway with respect to the ultimate utilisation of funds, complicity of other accused named in the FIR, and additional complaints registered in February and March this year.
