CBI Arrests Senior PNB Manager, One Other In Rs 183-Crore Fake Bank Guarantee Scam
The CBI took into custody Govind Chandra Hansda, senior manager at PNB, and Mohammed Firoz Khan from Kolkata following an extensive search operation.
The Central Bureau of Investigation has arrested two persons, including a senior branch manager of Punjab National Bank, in connection with a counterfeit bank guarantee scam.
These cases involve a major financial fraud centered around the submission of forged bank guarantees to the tune of Rs 183.21 crore by an Indore-based company, to the Madhya Pradesh Jal Nigam Ltd.
The company secured three irrigation projects in 2023 in Madhya Pradesh, worth a staggering Rs 974 crore from MPJNL. To support these contracts, eight fake bank guarantees valued at Rs 183.21 crore were submitted, the CBI said in a release.
The CBI took into custody Govind Chandra Hansda, senior manager at PNB, and Mohammed Firoz Khan from Kolkata following an extensive search operation spanning 23 locations across five states -- Delhi, West Bengal, Gujarat, Jharkhand and Madhya Pradesh.
The investigation has so far revealed that a Kolkata-based syndicate has been systematically fabricating and circulating fake bank guarantees to secure government contracts across multiple states, the agency said.
The CBI registered three separate cases on May 9 following directions from the Madhya Pradesh High Court.
Seven Years After Nirav Modi Scandal
The fresh case has emerged around seven years after the high-profile financial fraud case involving fugitive diamantaire Nirav Modi, who was accused of cheating PNB after getting fake letters of undertaking. These documents allowed him to get foreign loans without proper security.
LoU is a form of guarantee issued by a bank to an entity for availing short term credit from the overseas branch of any Indian lender.
In 2018, the officials of the PNB Mumbai branch issued unauthorised LoUs to Modi's companies, allowing them to get loans from foreign banks. The fraudulent activity remained undiscovered due to the alleged involvement of some bank officials who were supposed to prevent such activities. The estimated loss that the lender had to face was around Rs 6,498 crore.
Nirav Modi fled India in 2018 to evade the law days before a case was registered against him and his associates.
In the complaint, PNB had alleged that Modi and companies linked to him colluded with some of its officers -- including a former deputy general manager Gokulnath Shetty -- who was posted in the foreign exchange department of its Mumbai branch.
