Several parties involved in Citibank fraud, says Aggarwal

GURGAON - Sanjeev Aggarwal, who is the first complainant in the Rs. 300 crore Citibank fraud, on Wednesday asserting that the fraud is a systemic failure said several parties are involved in the scam.

“No single person can perpetrate such a major scam all by himself. So in this scam, there have to be multiple parties involved,” Aggarwal, the Managing Director of Helion Advisors, a private investment firm based in Gurgaon told reporters.

According to the top brass of the police, suspended Citibank manager Shivraj Puri, who worked at the bank’s Gurgaon branch, along with his associates had duped high worth clients to invest in fraudulent schemes luring them with promises of high return.

“In the last one year, he (Shivraj Puri) used to get blank documents signed by me and transfer funds into his own accounts. Due to this, the money in my account kept depreciating. However, he kept sending me bank statements regularly which showed inflated amounts,” added Aggarwal.

Earlier today, the Hero Group reportedly identified two more employees - Ganpat Singh and Gaurav Jain, working in the accounts department - who participated in the swindle.

Gurgaon Police on Tuesday registered an FIR against Citi Group CEO Vikram Pandit and ten other officials in the cheating case worth around Rs. 300-crore pulled off by suspended Citibank manager Puri.

Besides Pandit, the FIR filed by Sanjiv Agarwal with the Gurgaon police also names Citibank chairman William R Rhodes along with other senior officials based in India.

The police, however, said they would not be summoned for questioning in the case.

The police summoned Puri’s parents on Tuesday for questioning in the Citibank fraud case.

The police took into its custody the Chief Finance Officer of the Hero Group and associates, Sanjay Gupta, on Monday for his alleged involvement in the Rs 300-crore Citibank scam.

According to the police, Gupta made a profit of Rs 20 crore through the scam by allegedly initiating staff of the Hero Group to invest money amounting to Rs 200 crore in his two firms - BG Finance and G2S Management Consultants.

Both Puri and Gupta allegedly had a deal to first get the money deposited in Gupta’s company, from where Puri would siphon it off to one of his ‘fake’ accounts.

The arrest came five days after Puri, who worked at the bank’s Gurgaon branch as a relationship manager, surrendered on December 30 after being accused of siphoning money from 20 accounts of high net worth individuals.

A case of cheating and forgery was registered against Puri and the others DLF Phase-II Police Station on Monday night after Citibank lodged a formal complaint.

Puri had opened three accounts in a Gurgaon branch in the names of his relatives. He had asked customers to deposit money in these accounts under a scheme that promised double returns. But once money was deposited, Puri transferred it into his own account.

The fraud came to light after the bank probed certain suspicious transactions based on documents allegedly forged by an employee. (ANI)