Buyer’s credit proceeds are credited as per instruction of LoU issuing bank,” the CBI quotes from the reply allegedly sent by Ahad to RBI affixed to the chargesheet.
IN ITS two chargesheets filed in the alleged Rs 13,570 crore fraud in Punjab National Bank (PNB) by diamantaires Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has said that four senior PNB officials — former CFO Usha Ananthasubramanian, at present MD & CEO, Allahabad Bank, two executive directors KV Brahmaji Rao and Sanjiv Sharan and general manager Nehal Ahad — “misled” the RBI by sending a false response to a questionnaire sent by the regulatory body in 2016.
It also states, that the four “failed to take meaningful and corrective measures”, thereby failing to protect the interest of the bank despite circulars and caution notice issued by the RBI, according to the chargesheet reviewed by The Indian Express. The chargesheet states that in 2016, after a fraud of similar nature was detected at the Indian Overseas Branch (IOB), Chandigarh branch, the RBI sent three circulars dated August 3, August 10 and November 11, 2016. It also sent a questionnaire dated October 27, 2016 seeking specific response from PNB related to SWIFT and operational procedures in place for issuing Letter of Undertakings , Letter of Comforts, Letter of Credits and as to how PNB undertakes reconciliation of Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT) and Core Banking System.
“The circulars and caution notice issued by RBI was brought to the notice of the four senior officials and the same was marked downward without taking any meaningful corrective measures, follow up and necessary reconciliation of SWIFT- CBS by these accused persons,” the chargesheet states.
“This was dealt by the four senior officials and instead of replying to the queries in its true letter and spirit, Ahad prepared a misleading reply dated October 31, 2016 and sent the same to RBI after getting it approved by Sharan wherein he misrepresented to the RBI stating all outward SWIFT messages are being sent only after making entry in CBS, without entering in CBS, no financial SWIFT messages can be sent. Reconciliation to verify all outward messages transmitted by the bank are captured in CBS and it is being done by AD branches. The outstanding exposures on account of LC/LoU is being tracked by AD branches.
Buyer’s credit proceeds are credited as per instruction of LoU issuing bank,” the CBI quotes from the reply allegedly sent by Ahad to RBI affixed to the chargesheet. On the role of Ananthasubramanian , the chargesheet states: “Inspite of her knowledge about the modus operandi in SWIFT frauds which involved PNB, Dubai and IOB, Chandigarh as indicated by her noting on the IT department note dated August 23, 2016, she did not take meaningful corrective measures in her capacity as the executive head of the bank and had unauthorizedly delegated the RBI guideline work to her subordinates…”