'No looking back after first corp investment in May'

The prime accused in the Citibank scam, Shivraj Puri, said the turning point in his career came in May when he moved from individual investment portfolio to corporate investment that involved huge amount of transactions that assured him big profit margins. Sanjeev K Ahuja reports.

The prime accused in the Citibank scam, Shivraj Puri, said the turning point in his career came in May when he moved from individual investment portfolio to corporate investment that involved huge amount of transactions that assured him big profit margins.

HT Image

He said the first corporate investment was Rs 5 crore from an affiliate company of a well-known automotive group.

"I happened to meet some corporate bosses in April who 'advised' me to start dealing in corporate investment. These involved high volume of money as well as profit margins. The offer looked lucrative and I said yes. I started using various accounts of my family members for my business, which was not illegal as I only offered assured returns on their investment. It was then in the first week of May when I did first corporate investment transaction of R5 crore from an affiliate company of automotive group and thereafter there was no looking back," Puri said.

Puri said though he had been into trade for over a year, the major investment came in last three months from October to December. Puri claimed his business transactions touched Rs 800 crore.