Punjab National Bank official was bribed in fraud case

Mumbai

AN OFFICIAL of India's Punjab National Bank received gold and diamond jewellery from a billionaire jeweller accused of being involved in a US$2 billion bank fraud, the federal police told a court on Saturday.

The state lender in January uncovered the alleged fraud in which several bank officials were suspected of colluding with jeweller Nirav Modi and his uncle Mehul Choksi to issue fraudulent letters of undertakings (LOUs), for their companies to raise loans from overseas branches of mostly Indian banks.