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Nirav Modi aide Vipul was aware of fraud LoUs: CBI
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SME Times News Bureau | 20 Feb, 2018
Vipul Ambani, an arrested aide of fugitive billionaire Nirav Modi, knew
about the fraudulent and illegal Letters of Undertaking (LoUs) issued by
the Punjab National Bank in the Rs 11,300 crore fraud, CBI officials
said on Wednesday.
The LoUs were allegedly signed by
Gokulnath Shetty, who retired as Deputy Manager of the bank in May 2017.
The CBI and the Enforcement Directorate have launched a major probe and
manhunt in one of the biggest financial scams in India that has shaken
the country's banking sector.
Ambani was arrested on Tuesday and
is being continuously grilled by the Central Bureau of Investigation
(CBI) officials in Mumbai.
"Ambani was fully aware of the
fraudulent and illegal LoUs issued by Shetty who was a deputy manager at
PNB's Brady House branch in Mumbai. (This was being done) in conspiracy
and (under the) guidance of Nirav Modi and other employees of his
firm," a senior CBI official told IANS in New Delhi.
The CBI
official said the agency during its probe found that Ambani not only
visited and met PNB's officials at the Brady House branch but also met
other bank officials in Mumbai and New Delhi.
The official also
said that they have seized documents during searches at the office of
Firestar at Peninsula Business Park in Mumbai's Lower Parel that "prove"
that Ambani knew what was being done.
The documents include
applications for LoUs made to PNB by the three firms of Nirav Modi --
Diamond R US, Solar Exports and Stellar Diamonds.
The agency
officials said Ambani's recorded statements failed to prove that he may
not have been looking into the affairs of these firms.
"These documents and circumstances prove his knowledge of fraudulent application for LOUs," the official said.
He
said the LoUs were in fact being made in the premises of Firestar and
that there were "deliberate acts of omission by him by not protesting
the issuance of such fraudulent LoUs".
"This led to the
continuance of concealment and large scale fraud in this case on PNB and
loss and diversion of thousands of crores of public funds. The facts
prove his part in this sinister conspiracy to cheat PNB."
Also
arrested in the case are senior executive Arjun Patil and authorised
signatory of the diamond merchant Kavita Mankikar, Chief Managing
Officer (CFO) of Gitanjali group Kapil Khandelwal and its Manager Niten
Shahi on Tuesday.
The CBI also arrested Bechhu B. Tiwari, the
PNB's Chief Manager who was in-charge of the Forex Department, Yashwant
Joshi, a Scale II Manager in the same department and Praful Sawant, a
Scale I Officer in the Exports section.
Last Saturday the CBI
arrested three persons, including two retired PNB officials - former DGM
Gokulnath Shetty and Single Window Operator Manoj Kharat, besides
Hemant Bhatt, another authorised signatory for the Nirav Modi Group.
The officials also said the arrested officials of the Nirav Modi companies were not cooperating with the agency.
The
agency also arrested Rajesh Jindal on Tuesday night. He was PNB's Brady
House branch manager between 2010 and 2011. Jindal has denied his
involvement in the issuance of LOUs to the firms of Modi.
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