Mumbai: A Special CBI court in Mumbai remanded the three accused employees of Punjab National Bank to CBI custody till March 3. The CBI had arrested Bechu Tiwari- chief manager of Forex Department, Yashwant Joshi - scale 2 manager of Forex Department and Praful Sawant - scale 1 officer of International Banking on Monday. Last week, two other employees of PNB including a retired deputy manager, a single window operator and an authorised signatory of the Nirav Modi Group of firms were arrested.
The CBI while seeking maximum custody to the three accused told the court that all the three accused were in the know-how of unauthorised LOUs being sanctioned to private firms by the retired deputy manager Gokulnath Shetty who was arrested last week. "It is revealed that during the period from 2015 to 2017, Bechu Tiwari who was working as the chief manager in the Forex Department did not monitor the fraudulent and illegal LOUs being issued by Shetty. His deliberate act of omission led to the continuance of concealment and large-scale liabilities of PNB to foreign banks," reads CBI's remand copy. It goes on to say that the scale 2 officer Yashwant Joshi did not submit daily reports with respect to SWIFT messages and aided and abetted in the conspiracy.
CBI lawyer informed the court, "as per bank guidelines, either there should be a sanction limit from the competent authority or there should have been 100 percent margin. Without a 100 percent margin, Joshi sanctioned buyers credit."
The lawyer went on to add that the scale 1 officer Praful Sawant did not deliberately check the details of SWIFT messages sent daily and did not enter it in the core banking solution, thereby abetting the crime.
The remand copy reads that the three accused have shifted the entire blame on Gokulnath Shetty who had issued the fake LOUs to Nirav Modi's firm and others. "This is a larger conspiracy done in collusion and there are many more who are involved in it," added the CBI lawyer.
The defense lawyer representing all three accused argued that Shetty, who is accused of issuing the LOUs, did not keep his colleagues or superiors in the loop. "When Shetty retired in May 2017, Joshi took over and when the firms came for fresh LOUs, Joshi had pointed out that there has to be margin or collateral to issue the same. He was shocked that LOUs were issued in the past without following proper procedure and informed the branch head. He was, in fact, instrumental in exposing the scam and now he is behind bars which is unfortunate," argued the defense lawyer, while stating that there is not a single document sanctioned or signed or approved by the three accused.
The court said it is a crime of grave nature and to get to the root of the scam and unearth the scam in its entirety, CBI should question all the accused. All the six accused will be produced before the court on March 3.
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