CBI charge sheets 2 ex-CMDs of Canara bank

The CBI has filed a charge sheet against two former chairman-cum-managing directors of Canara Bank in connection with alleged loan default of Rs 146 crore by Jatin Mehta of Winsome Diamonds and has also sought a Red Corner Notice against the billionaire jeweller.

Mehta is absconding and believed to have got passport of St Kitts, a country in the Caribbean, sources said.

The agency has filed the charge sheet against 21 accused which includes Mehta, his company, his wife besides 15 public servants, CBI Spokesperson Abhishek Dayal said.

The public servants charge sheeted by the agency include former CMDs Avinash Chander Mahajan and Sunder Rajan Raman. Former Executive Director of the bank Archana Bhargava has also been named by the agency in its charge sheet filed in Special CBI court, Mumbai, he said.

The agency has alleged the company purchased gold from three bullion banks abroad - The Bank of Nova Scotia, Standard Bank and Standard Chartered Bank on the basis of guarantees from the Indian bank.

Later, this gold was processed and sent to 13 buyers in the UAE, the CBI stated.

The company also failed to make the payment for the gold imported on the strength of guarantees, the agency said.

"In this regard, the company has taken plea that export proceeds have not been received from foreign buyers (which) resulted in invoking the SBLCs (guarantees) by banks that cost wrongful loss of Rs 146.35 crore to Canara Bank," it has said.

During the probe, the agency found that the UAE based 13 companies to whom Mehta allegedly sold gold products were created by him.

Mehta allegedly covered his tracks creating layers of ownership of these companies, the agency said.

He allegedly siphoned off gold on the guarantee of Indian banks and defaulted on the payments.