On Wednesday, the CBI told a Special Court that the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Vipul Ambani was aware of the fraudulent Letter of Undertakings (LoU) made by the Punjab National Bank (PNB.) The CBI said Ambani was directly involved in the PNB scam as he did not protest against the issuance of fraudulent LoUs.
The CBI remand application read, “He (Vipul Ambani,) being the Head of the Finance Department of the aforesaid companies of Nirav Modi group, from May 2013 to November 2017 and thereafter President (Investor Relations & Corporate Affairs) was fully aware of the fraudulent and illegal LoUs which were being issued by Gokulnath Shetty, Retd Dy. Manager of PNB, Brady House branch, Mumbai, in conspiracy and guidance of Nirav Modi and other employees, Ambani in his aforesaid capacity as President (Finance) was also visiting and meeting not only the officials of PNB, Brady House, Mumbai in the branch but also officials of PNB, circle and zonal office at Mumbai and head office in Delhi.”
The CBI application further read, “In respect of the question that who was preparing and maintaining the books of accounts of the aforesaid firms, Ambani failed to give any answer or denial that he was not looking into the affairs of these firms. These documents and circumstances prove his knowledge of the fraudulent applications for LoUs being made in the same premises of Firestar Group of companies and deliberate act of omission by not protesting the issuance of such fraudulent LoUs, led to the continuance of concealment and large scale fraud in this case on PNB and loss and diversion of thousands of crores of public funds.”
CBI argued in its application that Ambani failed to raise a voice against the fraudulent LoUs. CBI said, “The accused have not been able to give any reasonable explanation for their aforesaid acts in not blowing the lid off the whole scam, as if they would have done so without being hand in glove with Modi and other co-accused, the scam would have been detected and stopped.”
The Special CBI Judge S. R. Tamboli said the custodial interrogation of Ambani is necessary. The remand application and FIR shows there was a conspiracy amongst the bank and the company officials. The investigation officers deserve a fair chance to confront the accused with the documents. Taking the seriousness and gravity of the offence, police custody is granted.
