All those
having account with PNB need to consider ...
whether their
funds are safe, what if the bank collapses.
CBI unearths another
PNB bribe-for-loan scam
Mumbai Mirror Bureau
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(Mumbai Mirror April 20, 2011
page 4)
After the multi-crore LIC
Housing loan scam,the CBI has unearthed another
bribe-for-loan racket involving the deputy general
manager of Punjab National Bank (PNB),Venkoba
Gujjal,and five companies,including Temptation Food
Pvt Ltd run by Vinit Kumar.
Incidentally,Gujjal was earlier
arrested by the CBI in the LIC Housing scam,while
Kumar is still in Tihar jail in connection with the
spying case involving IAS officer Ravi Inder Singh.
According to the agencys
FIR,which was filed on April 11, Kumar took a loan of
Rs 170 crore in 2009-10 by bribing Gujjal through a
Mumbai-based intermediate finance company,Portfolio
Finance Services Ltd.The total bribe amount paid in
this case was Rs 50 lakh,of which Gujjal got Rs 20
lakh, said a CBI officer.
CBI sources said that there
were four other companies which secured PNB loans
running into several hundred crores through two
intermediate finance firms: Portfolio and Imperial
Finance Services Ltd.Directors of both the companies
are on the run.They have been identified as Sunil
Singla and Murli Singla (Portfolio) and Deepesh Seth
(Imperial).
Gujjal has been arrested,while
a production warrant for Kumars custody has been
obtained.A CBI team is camping in Delhi to get Kumar
to Mumbai.We are now looking for the absconding
directors, another CBI officer said.
The agency has already raided
and sealed offices and residences of all the people
involved in the scam.
We will now scrutinise their
documents and depositions and figure out how this
scam was committed.We suspect rules were overlooked
or bent to help these companies obtain loans.Most of
them may not even be eligible for the massive loans
they have secured, the officer said.