engineered by its relationship manager, Shiv Raj Puri, which initial
estimates suggest could be of the order of Rs 300-350 crore.
The fraud, one of the biggest of its kind, came to light when the
foreign bank launched an investigation into a certain set of
suspicious transactions involving a few accounts in the Gurgaon
branch. Subsequently, the bank's assistant vice-president Binu Soman
lodged a complaint with the local police, giving details of the plot.
A case of fraud has been registered against the manager and three of
his close relatives.
According to the police, Soman's complaint states that Puri had got a
joint account opened in the names of Prem Nath, Sehna Prem Nath, and
Deeksha Puri in September 2009. Earlier this month the bank checked
the joint account (no 5011666247) and realised that there were large
cash transactions from this account.
Besides, the bank received inputs from some of its customers that the
branch had a specific scheme that promised a very high interest rate
to the investors, which was not the case. That made Citi suspicious
and they started investigating the matter internally, said a senior
police officer.
Soman has also submitted to the Gurgaon police that Puri had got a
forged circular in the name of the Securities and Exchange Board of
India (Sebi), which claimed that the high-returns scheme was only
available at this particular branch.
Puri allegedly showed this forged circular to win the trust of
prospective customers and to convince them to invest, and he was
successful in tapping some major players. Internal investigations
later showed Sebi never issued such a circular and the regulator has
given this in writing to the bank, said an investigating officer.
According to the sources, after getting the big deposits, Puri
generated forged bank slips and statements to the duped customers. He
then siphoned off the money into the stock market.
Citibank has already informed the Reserve Bank of India and Sebi about
the fraud.
In a statement the bank said, "Identified suspicious transactions have
been isolated and we are providing full assistance to the authorities
in their investigations. This issue does not impact other accounts,
transactions or customers of the bank. Subsequent to our complaint
naming the involved employee and other external individuals who appear
to be perpetrators in these suspicious transactions, Gurgaon police
have registered an FIR."
A senior police officer investigating the case said that they have
already seized 18 accounts, which have been opened in the name of the
four accused. These accounts have only Rs 3.85 crore. The main
accused, Puri, was working with the bank for the past seven-eight
years.
Puri, the alleged mastermind behind the fraud, has gone missing. The
ACP (east), Rao Dalbir Singh, said that they would soon issue a
look-out circular (LOC) against Puri so that he can't get out of the
country.
Read more: Rs350cr fraud detected in Citibank Gurgaon branch - The
Times of India http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Rs350cr-fraud-detected-in-Citibank-Gurgaon-branch/articleshow/7181306.cms#ixzz19SftP833
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