CBI FILES FRESH CASE RELATED TO ₹9 CR FRAUD AT PNB BRANCH

NEW DELHI: The CBI (Central Bureau of Investigation) has registered a fresh case relating to “fraudulent” issuance of ₹9 crore of LoUs (letters of undertaking) to Chandri Papers and Allied Products by PNB’s Brady House branch, at the centre of a storm over a similar fraud by billionaire jewellers Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi.

Retired PNB employee Gokulnath Shetty and single-window operator at the branch, Manoj Kharat, who are facing CBI probe in the Modi-Choksi case, have been booked by the agency in the fresh FIR registered by it, the officials said.

The agency has also named the company and its directors as accused in the case, they said. After filing the FIR on March 9, the agency has carried out searches at various locations, sources said.

The CBI has alleged that Shetty retired on May 31, 2017, and Kharat entered into criminal conspiracy with directors of the company Aditya Rasiwasia and Ishwardas Agarwal. The agency has alleged that as part of the conspiracy to defraud the public sector bank, they got issued two Letters of Undertaking (LoUs) for $1.4 million (about ₹9.09 crore at the rate of ₹64 per $) favouring SBI Antwerp, Belgium, they said. The due date of payment for the LoUs was January 20, 2020.

It is alleged that for the issuance of the two LoUs neither there was any available credit limit to the company nor any 110% margin was retained by the bank, they said. An LoU is a service whereby the bank guarantees a customers payment obligation of a specified amount to an oveseas bank.

Shetty and Kharat are already facing CBI probe in fraudulently issuing LoUs and Letters of Credit worth over ₹13,000 crore to the firms of billionaire jewellers Mehul Choksi and Nirav Modi.