PNB's Former Internal Chief Auditor Bishnubrata Mishra Sent to CBI Remand Till March 14 in Connection With The Mega Scam

Mumbai, March 2: A Mumbai court on Friday sent Punjab National Bank's (PNB), Internal Chief Auditor (retired) Bishnubrata Mishra to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) remand till March 14 in connection with a multi-dollar scam. The CBI on Thursday arrested Mishra for being responsible for concurrent audit for the period 2011-2015 at Mumbai’s Brady House branch.

13 more people were questioned by the CBI in addition to the questioning of those who are in CBI custody in the said case. Earlier in the day, a special CBI court sent Internal Chief Auditor M.K. Sharma of PNB’s Brady House Branch to the CBI custody till March 13. Sharma was arrested on Wednesday in connection with the fraud case against Nirav Modi and Gitanjali group.

The PNB detected a billion dollar scam earlier this month, in which Nirav Modi acquired fraudulent letters of undertaking from one of its branches for overseas credit from other Indian lenders. The Enforcement Directorate (ED) provisionally attached immovable properties of Nirav Modi and companies controlled by him. The scam, which allegedly started in 2011, was detected in the third week of January this year, after which the PNB officials filed a complaint with the CBI on January 31.

On Thursday, the PNB appointed Lingam Venkata Prabhakar as the Executive Director for a period of three years. Prabhakar’s appointment follows retirement of Ram S Sangapure who demitted the office of the Executive Director on February 28, 2018 after attaining the age of superannuation, PNB said in a regulatory filing.

The scam-hit Punjab National Bank (PNB) also raised its lending rate by 15 basis points to 8.30 per cent with immediate effect. The New Delhi-based lender also increased its retail and build deposit rates by up 45 basis points on various maturities. The move comes in the same day when the industry leader SBI increased the lending rates by 20 bps to 8.15 per cent.