PNB scam: CBI files chargesheet against Choksi and his firms

The CBI today 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. 

Earlier, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) filed its first chargesheet in PNB scam. The Rs 13,400 crore PNB scam involving Nirav Modi made headlines and exposed the corruption within state-owned banks. 

CBI filed the chargesheet in a Mumbai court just before the 90-day period to file charges against those arrested ends. Following this, it is also to be noted that the accused would not be able to sought for bail.

Usha Ananthasubramanian, Managing Director and CEO of the Allahabad Bank, who held the same position at Punjab National Bank earlier, had been named as an accused along with other senior officials, according to the chargesheet.She was MD and CEO of the Punjab National Bank in 2016.

The CBI said that senior PNB officials did not comply with RBI's circulars over SWIFT control system, a platform for encashing letters of undertaking (LoU). 

Besides, CBI also named Nirav Modi as an absconding accused. 

Apart from the arrested accused the probe agency have named three firms of which one is Stellar Diamond.  CBI's first chargesheet also named Brahmaji Rao, Sanji Saran and Nehal Ahad.

PNB, India's second largest state-owned bank after SBI, in February unearthed that that it had been duped of Rs 12,000 crore through the fraud guarantees for Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi.

(With inputs from agencies)