Enforcement Directorate Questions Punjab National Bank Chief Sunil Mehta
ED attaches 41 properties worth Rs 1,217 crore of Mehul Choksi and his companies
Sunil Mehta, managing director and chief executive officer of Punjab National Bank Ltd., was today questioned by the Enforcement Directorate in the Rs 12,700 crore fraud, an official told BloombergQuint.
The investigating agency questioned Mehta for six to seven hours in connection with the alleged fraudulent guarantees issued by a Mumbai branch of the bank used by Nirav Modi and his companies to borrow loans overseas.
Meanwhile, the Central Bureau of Investigation arrested a retired internal chief auditor of PNB, Bishnubrata Mishra, responsible for the audit for 2011-2015 at the bank’s Brady House branch, an agency spokesperson said. He was responsible for auditing the procedures and practices followed in the PNB branch and report them.
This is the fourteenth arrest the CBI has made so far in the fraud case. It questioned 13 people today in addition to those already in its custody.
MK Sharma, the chief internal audit officer of PNB, will remain in the CBI custody till March 13. Sharma was arrested on Wednesday. He was posted at PNB’s Brady House branch from November 2015 till July 2017, when some of fraudulent Letters of Undertakings were issued.
ED also approached the PMLA court to issue a non-bailable warrant against Mehul Choksi of Gitantali Gems Ltd. It has already sought a non-bailable warrant against Modi.
The investigating agency today attached 41 properties worth Rs 1,217 crore belonging to Choksi and companies controlled by him. These include 15 flats and 17 office premises in Mumbai and Hyderabad Gems SEZ, Andhra Pradesh, a Shopping Mall in Kolkata, a farm house in Alibaug and 231 acres land in Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu, the investigating agency tweeted.
