Rs 400 cr fraud: Citibank working on compensation for affected customers

In a bid to regain the trust of its customers, Citibank, which has been hit by an Rs 400 crore fraud at its Gurgaon branch, on Saturday said it is reconciling its accounts and working out a ‘fair compensation’ for those customers affected by it.

In a bid to regain the trust of its customers, Citibank, which has been hit by an Rs 400 crore fraud at its Gurgaon branch, on Saturday said it is reconciling its accounts and working out a ‘fair compensation’ for those customers affected by it.

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“We have since (when the fraud came into light in December) been in contact with our impacted customers and are committed to safeguarding our customers legitimate interests,” said the bank in statement released on Saturday. “During this interim period, we have been reconciling amounts involved with impacted customers and are now commencing the process of working towards a fair compensation for them,” added the bank.

However the bank has not specified about the time it will take to complete the compensation process. “This process will happen over a period of time,” said the bank.

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

One of its employees, Shivraj Puri, is accused of luring 40 high net-worth individuals and corporate entities to invest in a bogus investment scheme on the pretext of high returns, while diverting the funds to the stock market.

Victims of the fraud include big names such as the promoters of the Hero Group (Rs 250 crore) and Helion Advisors managing director, Sanjeev Aggarwal (Rs 33 crore).

On Friday, Puri was remanded to 14 days’ judicial custody until January 28 by a local court. He was initially taken into seven days’ police custody on December 30 last year after the scam was detected. Later, the police remand of Puri was extended for six days on January 6 and then, subsequently, for two days on January 12.