Vikram Pandit, Indian-born global CEO of Citibank, and its chairman William R Rhodes were on Tuesday named in a first information report (FIR) filed with the police accusing the bank of cheating and a criminal breach of trust in connection with the Rs. 300-crore fraud here.
Several high networth individuals have also complained that their securities were encashed without their knowledge in the fraud, allegedly masterminded by the Gurgaon branch relationship officer Shivraj Puri.
The local police registered a case on the basis of an FIR, naming Mr. Pandit and 10 other officials, filed by high networth individual (HNI) Sanjeev Aggarwal, Managing Director, Helion Advisors. The others named in the FIR include Citibank's chief financial officer John Gerspach and chief operating officer Doughlas Peterson (both based in New York).
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“We got the complaint and immediately registered the FIR,” Gurgaon Police Commissioner S.S. Deswal told PTI.
Mr. Aggarwal, a resident of Gurgaon, alleged criminal breach of trust, falsification of accounts, cheating and criminal conspiracy by the officials of Citibank. “All persons named [in FIR] ... in collusion and conspiracy with each other and other known or unknown persons have misappropriated money to the tune of Rs 32.43 crore.”
The case has been registered under Sections 409, 477A, 420 and 120B of the Indian Penal Code.
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The fraud, involving diversion of depositors' money into the stock market, was uncovered last week.
The others who figure in the FIR are Amit Zarpuri, Ashwini Chaddha, Amrita Farmahan, Rahul Soota, N. Rajshekaran, Pramit Jhaveri and Shivraj Puri, the main accused.