E-Paper
PNB fraud case: CBI seeks fresh sanction against Usha Ananthasubramanian
Sanction was also sought against PNB’s former executive directors K V Brahmaji Rao and Sanjiv Sharan in connection with its probe against fugitive diamantaire Mehul Choksi.
New Delhi: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has sought a fresh prosecution sanction against former managing director and chief executive officer of Punjab National Bank (PNB) Usha Ananthasubramanian and former executive directors K V Brahmaji Rao and Sanjiv Sharan in connection with its probe against fugitive diamantaire Mehul Choksi.
People familiar with the development said the sanction was sought from the ministry of finance in the “destruction of evidence” probe against Choksi, who is accused of cheating the public sector bank of over ₹7,000 crore.
A charge sheet was filed against Choksi, Ananthasubramanian, Brahmaji Rao, Sharan and 18 others in June last year adding “destruction of evidence” (section 201 of the Indian Penal Code, IPC) to the list of offences in the case. They were earlier charged under sections pertaining to cheating, forgery, falsifying accounts, and criminal conspiracy under the IPC and bribery under the Prevention of Corruption Act.
Without sharing the date when the latest sanction request was made, a CBI official, requesting anonymity, said “it was sought last year itself, but the details have been kept under wraps as India is pursuing the extradition of Choksi”.
The central agency alleged in its charge sheet last year that Mehul Choksi, in connivance with PNB officials, availed Letters of Undertaking (LOUs) and FLCs (Foreign Letters of Credit) without making necessary entries in the Core Banking System (CBS) system of the bank.
The charge sheet, reviewed by HT, also claimed that the businessman figured he would be a target of criminal investigations well before the first case was registered against him on January 29, 2018, so he travelled to Hong Kong in December 2017 to get his associates to shift operations to Thailand.
The allegations against Ananthasubramaniam in both the Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi probes are that she and her team knew about the modus operandi regarding the use of fraudulent LoUs for obtaining money from overseas branches of Indian banks but lied about it to the RBI and failed to implement the circulars and caution notices of the federal bank regarding safeguarding of SWIFT operations.
She headed the bank from 2015 to 2017.
Choksi, 62, is currently in Antigua and Barbuda and India is pursuing his extradition. He acquired citizenship of Antigua and Barbuda under its Citizenship by Investment Programme in November 2017 and has been living in the Caribbean nation after fleeing India in January 2018.
CBI is also currently probing alleged diversion of another ₹942 crore by Choksi’s companies, including Asmi Jewellery India Ltd, from PNB.
