Co-accused in Citibank fraud sent to judicial custody

A local court on Saturday remanded Sanjay Gupta, a co-accused in the Rs 400 crore Citibank fraud, to 14-day judicial custody.

A local court on Saturday remanded Sanjay Gupta, a co-accused in the Rs 400 crore Citibank fraud, to 14-day judicial custody.

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Gupta, who was senior official in Hero Corporate Services, was arrested on January 3 in connection with the fraud affecting about 40 corporate entities and high networth individuals.

He allegedly received about Rs 20 crore commission from Shivraj Puri, the alleged mastermind of the fraud, in lieu of arranging investments.

Puri, a Relationship Manager with Citibank's Gurgaon branch, is accused of luring high net-worth individuals to invest in bogus schemes by promising unusually high returns, which he falsely substantiated with a forged letter from market regulator Sebi.

Yesterday, the court Chief Judicial Magistrate D N Bhardwaj had also sent Puri in judicial custody.

Meanwhile, Citibank today said it is reconciling its accounts and working out a "fair compensation" for those customers affected by it.

"This process will happen over a period of time. We would like to thank our customers for their patience and co-operation," the bank said in a statement.

The global banking major said that it has been reconciling amounts involved with impacted customers to arrive at the compensation package.

"We will also continue to support the investigating authorities fully until this matter is resolved and brought to its logical conclusion," the statement said.

A multi-pronged probe involving the police, banking regulator RBI and capital markets watchdog Sebi is currently underway in the fraud case involving Puri.

One of the victims has even named Citibank's global chief Vikram Pandit and other senior executives in his complaint. But the bank said claims against its senior officials were baseless and it would vigorously defend them.