PNB officials took a sum to sign LoUs: CBI
DIG AT PM: Rahul Gandhi questions Modi’s and Arun Jaitley’s silence over the Rs 11,300-crore banking scam
NEW DELHI: Punjab National Bank officials used to take percentage commissions in lieu of issuing letters of undertaking and foreign letters of credit to diamond czar Nirav Modi and his partner Mehul Choksi and their firms, according to the probe into the Rs 11,300-crore banking scam.
The fresh revelation in the banking fraud has come after the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) questioned former PNB deputy manager Gokulnath Shetty, Single Window Operator Manoj Kharat, and Hemant Bhatt, the authorised signatory of prime accused Nirav Modi’s group of companies.
They were arrested on Saturday and have been remanded in police custody till March 3.
Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Sunday questioned Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley’s silence over the “Rs 22,000-crore banking scam”, and asked the government to stop behaving like it was “guilty”.
Taking a dig at the Prime Minister, Gandhi said on his social media handle: “Prime Minister Modi tells kids how to pass exams for 2 hours, but won’t speak for 2 minutes on the 22,000-crore banking scam.”
“Mr (Arun) Jaitley (Finance Minister) is in hiding. Stop behaving as if you are guilty! Speak up.”
Nirav Modi, the prime accused, fled the country just before the scam came to light.
The ruling BJP and the Congress have been trading charges over the culpability of the banking fraud that dates back to 2011-12.
According to CBI sources, the arrested bank officials during interrogation disclosed that for every LoU, a percentage of the amount was fixed depending upon the amount to be sanctioned.
The commission collected from the client was then distributed between all employees of PNB involved in the scam, the sources said.
The agency on Saturday questioned six people in the case. However, CBI officials refused to share the names of all the people being questioned.
Those interrogated on Saturday have named a few more officials who are likely to be questioned in a day or two, an official said.
The CBI official said the arrested accused were also questioned about their modus operandi.
The agency is also examining if other officials of the bank had access to SWIFT — global messaging service to move money internationally — which they used to make entries in core banking solution (CBS) to process daily transactions.
“It was used by many officials including Shetty by using passwords in the capacity of verifier/authorizer enabling the fraudulent Swift messages,” the source said.
The involvement and connivance of more staff members and outsiders, including Nirav Modi and Mehul Chowksi, at this stage is being probed.
The agency sources claimed that it was not possible for two bank employees to commit a fraud on this scale without the knowledge of other officials.
On Sunday, the ED carried out searches at over 45 locations across the country including four places in Delhi.
Six properties in Mumbai belonging to the jeweller have also been sealed.
The agency raided 10 places in Bengaluru, seven in Delhi, five each in Kolkata and Mumbai, four each in Chandigarh and Hyderabad, three each in Patna and Lucknow, two in Ahmedabad and one each in Chennai and Guwahati.
It also conducted raids in Goa, Jaipur, Srinagar and Jalandhar cities whose locations are yet to be confirmed, the official said.