The Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO) on Wednesday questioned Punjab National Bank (PNB) managing director and CEO Sunil Mehta for five hours in connection with the ₹12,636 cr fraud at the bank, allegedly carried out by diamond jewellers Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi.
Mr. Mehta was seen entering the SFIO office in Mumbai before 11 a.m. and leaving around 4 p.m., presumably after recording his statement.
The New Delhi-based PNB is the third lender which has been called by SFIO in the last two days in connection with the nearly $2 billion fraud.
Axis Bank and ICICI Bank officials had appeared before the SFIO on March 6 to record their statement in the case, as well.
Mr. Mehta and PNB’s executive director K.V. Brahmaji Rao were last month called by the CBI in connection with the alleged fraud.
The CBI officials had said the examination was focused on understanding how the crime was detected by the bank, procedural issues and their violations.
They said that Mr. Mehta and Mr. Rao were not being treated as accused in the case.
The SFIO, which is the investigating arm of the Ministry of Corporate Affairs, is expected to call officials of nearly 31 banks that have an exposure to companies of Mr. Nirav Modi and Mr. Choksi.
Officials of all the banks that have given loans to companies of Mr. Nirav Modi and Mr. Choksi in the last one or two years are likely to be summoned first by the SFIO for recording their statement in connection with the scam, said a banker.
The PNB had last month said it had detected fraudulent transactions worth nearly ₹12,700 crore at one of its branches in Mumbai.
The transactions were carried out by Mr. Nirav Modi by allegedly acquiring fraudulent Letter of Undertaking (LoU) from the lender’s Brady House branch in Mumbai to secure overseas credit from other Indian lenders.
The CBI has so far arrested over a dozen people, including former and current officials of the PNB and companies related to Mr. Nirav Modi and Mr. Choksi, in connection with the case.
