Mumbai: A special CBI court on Wednesday took cognisance of a supplementary chargesheet against four accused in the over Rs 23,000 crore Punjab National Bank (PNB) loan fraud case, holding that there is prima facie material to issue process for offences including criminal conspiracy, cheating, criminal breach of trust, falsification of accounts, causing disappearance of evidence and offences under the Prevention of Corruption Act.Special Judge S K Karhale issued process against accused Bishnubrata Mishra, Jayesh Shah, Ajit Bheda and Deepan Shah.The court noted that the material placed by the CBI showed that in 2015, the Gitanjali Group of Companies, “in active connivance with officials of Punjab National Bank and others”, began availing buyer’s credit on the basis of fraudulent Letters of Undertaking (LoUs). The court noted that Mishra was then internal chief auditor at PNB’s Brady House branch in Fort.While Jay was a partner at 4C’s Diamonds Distributors, managed the unit in Hong Kong, and was involved in circular trading, Bedha was an import-export manager for Gitanjali Gems in Mumbai. Deepan as senior vice president at Gitanjali Gems was responsible for overseeing all operations, including imports and exports, in Hyderabad.The supplementary chargesheet was filed by CBI, Banking and Securities Fraud Cell, Mumbai. The court recorded the CBI special public prosecutor A Limosin’s submission that there was sufficient material to proceed against the four accused. “(Prosecution) submits that there is sufficient material on record to prima facie hold that, accused…have committed the… referred offences. Hence, cognisance of the chargesheet against those accused be taken and process be issued against them,” the order said.It further said that the accused “hatched the criminal conspiracy and got issued 118 fraudulent/unauthorized LoUs in favour of overseas banks” on behalf of Gili India Ltd, and that Gitanjali Exports Corporation Ltd was not enjoying any sanctioned limit with PNB before being merged with Gitanjali Gems Ltd. The court recorded that the break-up of the fraudulent LoUs showed “the total fraud of amount of 21.87 crore”.The court further noted that the 118 LoUs were issued for transactions with four export parties or beneficiaries, described as companies controlled by main accused Mehul Choksi. It also recorded that in 2016, the chargesheeted accused and the four newly proceeded-against accused allegedly got issued 116 fraudulent LoUs on behalf of Asmi Jewellery India Ltd, Gili India Ltd, Gitanjali Exports Corporation Ltd and Nakshatra Brands Ltd.The order said these LoUs were allegedly issued “without having any sanctioned limit and 110% cash margin and without entering these transactions in the CBS System of the bank”, enabling buyer’s credit from overseas banks.The judge observed, “The above acts on the part of accused….prima facie shows that they, in conspiracy with the chargesheeted accused persons, facilitated issuance of fraudulent LoUs and issuance of fraudulent amendments done under FLCs on behalf of three accused companies and misutilisation of the bank’s funds.”The court also noted that the sanction order for prosecution under the Prevention of Corruption Act against Mishra had been placed on record.
