Officer who defrauded PNB of Rs 169 crore arrested | Popgen Tech

The CBI has registered an FIR against an official of Punjab National Bank (PNB), now suspended, for allegedly defrauding the state-run lender to the tune of Rs 168.59 crore through 34 fake bank guarantees, officials said on Thursday .

Photo: Francis Mascarenhas/Reuters

Almost four years after an LoU (letter of undertaking) scam allegedly perpetrated by uncle-nephew duo of Mehul Choksi and Nirav Modi bilked PNB of around Rs 13,000 crore, bank official Priya Ranjan Kumar followed a modus similar operandi to issue 34 fake bank guarantees without making any entries in its core banking system Finacle, according to the CBI FIR.

“According to the interim investigation report dated November 27, 2022, it appears that the fraud was carried out by the bank staff in collusion with some unknown persons through illegal and unauthorized use of the bank’s systems.

“Furthermore, the aforesaid fake bank guarantee has no record in the bank’s Finacle system,” the FIR alleged.

The new scam came to light when Canara Bank’s Kohima branch sent an intimation to PNB’s Parliament Street branch on November 18 for invoking a bank guarantee of Rs 5.70 crore allegedly disbursed by the latter.

The guarantee was signed by two PNB employees, including the then branch manager Priya Ranjan Kumar, now suspended, and A Venkatesan who had already resigned from the service when the scam came to light, the CBI said. .

The agency also named Elangbam Ranananda, Heyee Global Enterprises in Noida, Uttar Pradesh, and MD Enterprises based in Andhra Pradesh in the FIR.

Kumar allegedly used Structured Financial Messaging System (SFMS) to intimate Canara Bank about the bank guarantee but did not enter the information into PNB’s Finacle system.

The PNB had reported the biggest banking scam in 2018 saying that companies owned by Choksi and Modi had pocketed Rs 13,000 crore by using the LoUs issued by the bank which were not entered into the core banking system by the conspiring staff. his to avoid scrutiny.

Now the bank has detected 34 such entries in the bank’s SFMS system at Sansad Marg Branch Office, New Delhi and Arrah Chowk, Arrah (Bihar) branch office issued by Kumar using format of invalid messages MT 799 for the confirmation of the issuance and extension of false bank guarantees through the system, alleged the FIR.

“There is no record of these 34 SFMS message entries in the bank’s financial system and no such bank guarantees were ever issued by the bank in respect of these fraudulent advices/confirmations in an invalid format, through MT 799 (Free Format Message) instead of the prescribed MT 760,” alleged the complaint filed by PNB, now part of the FIR.

“Accused was alleged to have conspired with others through illegal and unauthorized use of the bank’s system, issued 34 false bank guarantees, thereby causing loss to PNB to the tune of Rs 168.59 crore ( around),” the CBI said in a statement. .