The CBI has filed its supplementary chargesheet against billionaire jeweller Mehul Choksi, his companies under Gitanjali Group in connection with over USD 2 billion scam in the Punjab National Bank.
In its chargesheet filed in the CBI special court, Mumbai, the agency has also charged 16 other entities, besides Choksi and his companies, on the charges of criminal conspiracy, cheating and provisions under the Prevention of Corruption Act, media reports said.
Officials were quoted as saying that this was a separate chargesheet from the one filed on May 14 against Choksi’s nephew Nirav Modi and stressed that the present chargesheet pertained to the FIR against Choksi.
Supplementary chargesheets against Modi will also be filed soon, they reportedly said.
The FIR was lodged on the basis 0f a complaint from the PNB, dated February 13.
According to it, the alleged loss to the bank was over Rs 4,886 crore, arising out of 143 Letters of Undertaking (LoUs) and 224 Foreign Letters of Credit issued to the companies of Choksi, the officials said, adding that the total loss, allegedly perpetrated by the jeweller and his nephew Modi — both absconding — was over USD 2 billion.
It is alleged that the accused PNB officials, in a conspiracy with private persons, had sent the unauthorised LoUs and Foreign Letters of Credit to overseas branches of Indian banks for the release of funds to the accused companies’ suppliers or to clear the liabilities of the accused companies.
The accused PNB officials allegedly did not enter the instructions for these LoUs in their internal software to avoid scrutiny.
They were sent through an international messaging system for banking called SWIFT, used to pass instructions among banks globally to transfer funds, reported PTI.
An LoU is a guarantee given by an issuing bank to Indian banks that have branches abroad to grant short-term credit to an applicant. In case of default, the bank issuing the LoU has to pay the liability to the credit-giving bank, the report highlighted
