New Delhi, Oct 5 (FN Agency) A special judge for CBI cases on Tuesday sentenced a former chief manager of Canara Bank to five years Rigorous Imprisonment (RI) and also imposed Rs one lakh fine. Besides, three others were also sent to RI due to their involvement in the corruption case. According to the agency, former account assistant of a private company to undergo three years rigorous imprisonment with fine of Rs 1.5 lakh and another former account assistant of a private firm to undergo three years rigorous imprisonment with fine of Rs one lakh and a proprietor to undergo three years rigorous imprisonment with fine of Rs one lakh. The Court has also imposed a fine of Rs one crore each on two private firms. CBI had registered the case on February 23, 2017 on a complaint from Bank of India in the matter of discounting 246 bills against Letter of Credit (LC) issued by Canara Bank of Deccan Gymkhana Branch in Pune to the tune of Rs 300 crore.
It was alleged that the accused hatched conspiracy and in pursuance of the conspiracy, the managing director of two companies got issued fraudulent LC on February 29, 2016 through the then chief manager of Canara bank, CBI said. It was alleged that 246 forged bills were submitted in the Bank of India and got the same discounted fraudulently in the name of the other co-accused companies. Further, the money received from these fraudulent transactions were again allegedly transferred to the accounts of companies and also fraudulently utilized for reducing their earlier liabilities with State Bank of India. After investigation, a chargesheet was filed in the court of special judge, CBI cases in Pune against the accused. The trial court found the accused guilty and convicted them, the agency added.