The C.B.I. charge sheet categorically mentioned that colour of gold, the sparkle of diamonds and the mesmerizing scent of money played an indispensable role in India’s biggest Punjab National Bank (PNB) scam.
In 7000 pages of prosecution complaint filed against 25 accused including Nirav Modi, Usha Ananthsubramanain, Vipul Ambani, Gokulnath Shetty and others, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has revealed that the bank officials were bribed in every way by Modi & Co to issue fraudulent LoUs worth Rs 6,498 crores.
To start with, Yashwant Sinha, successor of Gokulnath Shetty after latter’s retirement from Brady House of PNB, received two gold coins and one pair of diamond studded earrings from Nirav Modi for issuing LoUs without any sanctions or cash margin and without entering the transactions in the CBS System, and for not reporting to higher authorities.
Earlier, it had been reported that prime accused Gokulnath Shetty had compelled Debajyoti Dutta, proprietor of Rashika Financials (on accounts of Gitanjali Exports Corporation Ltd) to part with an aggregate sum of Rs 1.02 crore as illegal gratification for himself by way of cheques favouring himself and his family members. Shetty is known to have threatened Dutta of stopping his business.
The bank officials colluded with each other like a gang to earn and share the undue favours. The chargesheet said that in July 2017, accused Subhash Parab and Miten Pandya had visited Brady House branch and they had taken accused Yashwant Joshi and Prafull Sawant for lunch with intent to solicit undue favours.
But these were the small fishes. The biggest crooks in the entire list were the former CEO and MD of PNB Usha Ananthsubramanian, KV Brahmaji Rao (ED, PNB), Sanjiv Saran (ED, PNB) and Nehal Ahad, GM of PNB.
CBI has claimed in its chargesheet that all four senior bank officials were “aware of this fraud involving PNB DIFC, Dubai and Indian Overseas Bank, Chandigarh and yet they did not take corrective action and remained silent spectators and thereby facilitated continuance of the fraud by other accused public servants resulting in wrongful loss to PNB”.
In case of Usha Ananthsubramanian specifically, she did not take any meaningful corrective measures in her capacity as the executive head of the bank and had unauthorisedly delegated the RBI guidelines work to her subordinates without any follow up action or action taken report, thereby facilitating the accused in continuance of fraud.
Dated November 2016, replying to Reserve Bank of India (RBI) questionnaire seeking specific response related to SWIFT and operational procedures/measures in place for issuing LoUs etc, the gang led by former CEO prepared misleading answers and misrepresented the facts to RBI. The answers were:
– all outward SWIFT messages are being sent only after making entry in CBS.
– reconciliation to verify all outward messages transmitted by the bank are captured in CBS and it is being done by AD branches.
– the outstanding exposure in account of LoU/LC is being tracked by AD branches
– buyers credit proceeds are credited as per instruction of LoU issuing bank.
CBI went ahead saying Gokulnath Shetty continued to issue fraudulent LoUs with impunity which indicates an environment of protection he enjoyed in the form of lack of reconciliation and absence of branch visits by senior functionaries.
“The patronage extended by the senior four bank officials to the accused persons working in PNB resulting in huge wrongful loss to PNB,” the chargesheet stated indicating that the sanction order under section 197 of the Criminal Procedure Code against all four officials (including ex-CEO) will be submitted before the Court after receipt of the same from the competent authority.
Another accused who was almost the backbone of this mega fraud is Vipul Ambani, who bridged the gap between accused Nirav Modi/Mehul Choksi and the bank officials.
As per the prosecution complaint it is also in evidence that Ambani was meeting former CEO in order to continue with the credit facilities to the group entities.
Investigation has revealed that Ambani, president (Investor Relations & Corporate Affairs), Firestar International Ltd was not only party to the conspiracy wherein Joshi was asked to continue with issue of LoUs fraudulently but also he was “instrumental in concealing the incriminating documents to the case in the office of a law firm namely Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas”.
Ambani was regularly visiting head office of PNB and meeting the senior officers to continue with the credit facilities provided to the companies of Nirav Modi group.
Prasanta Patnaik