Business News
PNB fraud case: SFIO summons ICICI Bank’s Chanda Kochhar, Axis Bank’s Shikha Sharma
At least 73 companies associated with Choksi have come under the scanner of the CBI, Enforcement Directorate (ED) and the Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO) in the wake of the alleged Rs 12,700 crore fraudulent transactions at Punjab National Bank.
The Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO) on Tuesday summoned ICICI Bank CEO Chanda Kochhar and Axis Bank MD Shikha Sharma in connection with loans extended to Mehul Choksi’s Gitanjali Group.
ICICI Bank and Axis Bank were part of a consortium of 31 banks that extended loans to the Gitanjali Group. Kochhar and Sharma will appear before the agency this afternoon.
At least 73 companies associated with Choksi have come under the scanner of the CBI, Enforcement Directorate (ED) and the SFIO in the wake of the alleged Rs 12,700 crore fraudulent transactions at Punjab National Bank involving three of Choksi’s companies.
A preliminary investigation by probe agencies into firms associated with Gitanjali Gems promoter Mehul Choksi has found that a consortium of 31 banks lent Rs 5,280 crore to his firms between November 2010 and April 2014 against a collateral of only about Rs 100 crore, sources familiar with the development said.
Choksi took loans from the Allahabad Bank, Andhra Bank, Bank of Maharashtra, Bank of Baroda, Bank of India, Central Bank of India, Canara Bank, Corporation Bank, Dena Bank, Export Import Bank of India, Indian Overseas Bank, ICICI Bank, IDBI Bank, IndusInd Bank, Karnataka Bank, Karur Vysya Bank, Punjab National Bank, Punjab and Sind Bank, Standard Chartered Bank, State Bank of Hyderabad, State Bank of India, State Bank of Bikaner and Jaipur, Syndicate Bank, Union Bank, United Bank, Vijaya Bank, State Bank of Mauritius, Catholic Syrian Bank, Lakshmi Vilas Bank, Jammu and Kashmir Bank and the Oriental Bank of Commerce.
