Co-accused in Citibank fraud sent to judicial custody

Gurgaon, Jan 15 (PTI) A local court on Saturday remanded
Sanjay Gupta, a co-accused in the Rs 400 crore Citibank fraud,
to 14-day judicial custody.
Gupta, who was senior official in Hero Corporate
Services, was arrested on January 3 in connection with the
fraud affecting about 40 corporate entities and high networth
individuals.
He allegedly received about Rs 20 crore commission from
Shivraj Puri, the alleged mastermind of the fraud, in lieu of
arranging investments.
Puri, a Relationship Manager with Citibank's Gurgaon
(suburb of Delhi) branch, is accused of luring high net-worth
individuals to invest in bogus schemes by promising unusually
high returns, which he falsely substantiated with a forged
letter from market regulator Sebi.
On Friday, the court of Chief Judicial Magistrate D N
Bhardwaj had also sent Puri in judicial custody.
Meanwhile, Citibank on Friday said it is reconciling
its accounts and working out a "fair compensation" for those
customers affected by it.
"This process will happen over a period of time. We
would like to thank our customers for their patience and
co-operation," the bank said in a statement.
"We have since been in contact with our impacted
customers and are committed to safeguarding our customers'
legitimate interests," it added.
The global banking major said that it has been
reconciling amounts involved with impacted customers to arrive
at the compensation package.
"We will also continue to support the investigating
authorities fully until this matter is resolved and brought to
its logical conclusion," the statement said.
A multi-pronged probe involving the police, banking
regulator RBI and capital markets watchdog Sebi is currently
underway in the fraud case involving Puri.
One of the victims has even named Citibank's global chief
Vikram Pandit and other senior executives in his complaint.
But the bank said claims against its senior officials were
baseless and it would vigorously defend them. PTI CORR NKD
ASR