Former Managing Director and CEO of Punjab National Bank Usha Ananthasubramanian and some other senior bank officials were aware of the fraudulent dealings with diamond merchant Nirav Modi but kept misleading the RBI.
A special CBI court took cognizance of the charge sheet today and permitted the investigating agency to issue fresh non-bailable warrants against Nirav Modi and his brother Nishal and an executive of the Nirav Modi Group Subhash Parab.
In its charge sheet into the Rs 14,000 crore scam, the CBI said the RBI had since October 2016 sent several questionnaires to the PNB, seeking to know what procedures or measures the bank follows before issuing Letters of Understandings and Letters of Credit.
The CBI charge sheet names among others, Ananthasubramanian, the then MD and CEO of PNB during the period in which the caution advice was issued. It also names two EDs KV Brahmaji Rao and Sanjiv Sharan and Nehal Ahad, GM at the bank.
RBI had also issued an urgent questionnaire dated August 27, 2016, seeking the specific response from PNB related to Swift and operational procedures in place for issuing letters of undertaking/comfort and letters of credit (LCs) and how PNB undertook reconciliation of Swift and core banking solutions