PNB fraud: Finance Ministry initiates action against Allahabad Bank CEO
New Delhi, May 14: The Finance Ministry on Monday started the process of removing Allahabad Bank CEO and MD Usha Ananthasubramanian from her post after the CBI filed a chargesheet detailing her alleged role in the over Rs 13,000-crore Punjab National Bank (PNB) scam.
Ananthasubramanian, who was the MD and CEO of PNB from August 2015 to May 2017, was quizzed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in February in connection with the case. On Monday, CBI filed the chargesheet in the case mentioning her role.
A Finance Ministry official told IANS that the Department of Financial Services (DFS) had asked the government representative in the Allahabad Bank to come up with a proposal before the board to strip Ananthasubramanian of her powers.
He said that the board would take the final call on the proposal.
The official added that similar action was also intiated against two Executive Directors of the PNB.
"DFS has started action for removing and dismissing the accused officials. The departmental inquiry will continue against them separately," he said.
Earlier, the CBI filed a chargesheet against Ananthasubramanian and 21 others, including 11 bank officials, over the PNB fraud case allegedly perpetrated by diamantire Nirav Modi and his uncle Mehul Choksi.
The agency has also named PNB Executive Directors K.V. Brahmaji Rao and Sanjiv Sharan, and General Manager (International Operations) Nehal Ahad in its chargesheet filed before a special CBI court here.
So far, 19 people have been arrested in the case while Modi and Choksi are on the run.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Three company directors held in Rs 100-crore investment fraud in Kochi
Kochi (Kerala) (PTI): Police on Sunday arrested three directors of a firm accused of cheating hundreds of investors of over Rs 100 crore through a fake investment scheme linked to agricultural tourism here, officials said.
The accused were identified as Muraleedharan, Ashik Murali and Akhil Murali, all natives of Thrissur.
The arrests were made by the Kalamassery police in connection with a fraud involving ATCOS (Agri Tourism Cooperative Society), a firm headquartered at Pathadipalam here.
Police said the company had promised high returns by collecting investments from the public in the agricultural tourism sector, but allegedly cheated hundreds of people and fled with the money.
ATCOS was registered under the Multi-State Cooperative Societies Act and operated 13 branches across various districts in Kerala, besides a branch in Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu, officials said.
When investors failed to receive their promised returns or the invested amount, complaints were filed with the police.
Officials said around 54 cases have been registered against the firm in 32 police stations across the state, including 29 cases at the Kalamassery police station alone.
Following instructions from Kochi City Police Commissioner K S Mahesh Kumar, a special investigation team was formed under the supervision of Deputy Commissioner of Police (Law and Order) Shehensha and Thrikkakara ACP Manoj Kumar.
The team traced the accused to an apartment in Amala Nagar in Thrissur, where they had been hiding after secretly renting the flat, officials said.
The bank accounts of the accused have been frozen, and steps have been initiated to trace their assets, officials said.
Police also conducted a raid at the company’s office at Pathadipalam and seized several documents related to the case.
The accused were produced before the Judicial First Class Magistrate Court in Kalamassery, which remanded them to judicial custody and sent them to Kakkanad jail.
Police said they would seek the custody of the accused for further interrogation as the investigation continues.
