CBI QUIZZES 4 RBI STAFFER OVER PNB

New Delhi, April 5: The CBI on Thursday questioned four senior RBI officials in connection with relaxing of gold import rules in 2014 when P. Chidambaram was the finance minister allegedly to the benefit of private traders.

New Delhi, April 5: The CBI on Thursday questioned four senior RBI officials in connection with relaxing of gold import rules in 2014 when Congress leader P. Chidambaram was the finance minister in the UPA government allegedly to the benefit of private traders.

The central investigation agency, which is probing the alleged `13,000-crore PNB fraud involving billionaire diamantaire Nirav Modi and his uncle Mehul Choksi, questioned three Chief General Managers and one General Manager of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), officials said.

The four officials were asked questions related to the UPA government’s ‘20:80’ gold import scheme, which was cleared by Chidambaram on May 13, 2014, barely three days before the counting of votes of the general election, they said.

The CBI investigation into the matter came four weeks after the NDA government had issued a statement saying it would act against people who relaxed gold import rules for private trading houses during the previous dispensation.

In a statement, the government had said the UPA government's ‘20:80 scheme’ resulted in a windfall of `4,500 crore to 13 trading houses in six months. —