Mumbai/New Delhi: The Enforcement Directorate has summoned Punjab National Bank’s Managing Director and CEO Sunil Mehta in connection with with the Rs 11,400 crore PNB scam allegedly involving diamantaire Nirav Modi and owner of Gitanjali Gems Mehul Choksi, officials said on Monday.
The ED on Monday also examined the state-owned bank’s Executive Director K.V. Brahmaji Rao to understanding how the alleged fraud was detected and other banking procedures.
Mehta, officials said, will be asked similar questions when he meets ED officials this week. They said the two officials are not being examined as an accused.
Meanwhile, beleaguered diamond merchant Modi, his wife Ami and his uncle Choksi on Monday skipped their scheduled appearance before the Enforcement Directorate in Mumbai.
It was not immediately known if the agency will issue fresh dates to them.
The agency on Monday also obtained the court's nod to issue six Letters Rogatories (LRs), judicial requests for obtaining information from overseas locations, pertaining to its probe against Modi.
The LRs issued will be sent, through the Union home ministry, to Hong Kong, the US, the UK, the UAE, South Africa and Singapore. The attempt of sending these judicial requests for exchange of details is aimed at obtaining the details of the overseas financial holdings of Modi and Choksi and also their bank accounts, assets, partnerships, showrooms, trusts and other assets, the officials said.
3 officials of PNB questioned
The CBI has sought from the Chief Vigilance Officers of five banks the details of financial transactions in the nostro accounts of Punjab National Bank on the basis of 293 fraudulent Letters of Undertaking issued by it to jewellers Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi, officials said on Monday.
The agency has also collected documents related to Nirav Modi from Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas, a leading law firm, they said.
The agency on Monday questioned three General Managers of the PNB, officials said without revealing their identity.
The CBI has written to Canara Bank, Bank of India, State Bank of India, Allahabad Bank and Axis Bank seeking financial transactions into the nostro accounts of the Punjab National Bank on the basis of the LoUs, they said.
