BHUBANESWAR: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Monday registered a case under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) against Punjab National Bank (PNB) officials and directors of a private firm, Global Trading Solutions limited for allegedly swindling Rs 31.92 crore from the bank’s Bhubaneswar branch. The case has been registered against PNB’s serving and retired officials as well as the managing director of Global Trading Abinash Mohanty and other directors of the firm.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had registered a case in this regard on June 9 against four serving and retired officials of PNB in the city for allegedly cheating the bank. PNB’s branch at the Station Square had allegedly advanced loans to Global Trading Solutions, a mineral exporting firm, in gross violation of norms.
The CBI named the then chief manager of PNB Station Square branch Nagmani Satyanarayana Prasad, former assistant general manager SC Sharma, ex-chief manager Manoranjan Dash and the then officer and senior manager of the branch Priyotosh Das. The cases were filed under Sections 120B and 420 of IPC along with Sections 13(1)(d) and 13(2) Prevention of Corruption Act. Managing director of Global Trading Abinash Mohanty, former directors Kaushik Mohanty and Anshuman Samantaray, current director Bidhubhusan Nayak and others have also been named by the CBI.
The central agency received a complaint from PNB Circle Head Ganpat Lal, seeking an investigation into the matter. In the complaint, the Circle head said Nagmani, Sharma, Manoranjan and Priyotosh, who were then posted at the bank’s Station Square branch, entered into a criminal conspiracy with Global Trading through its managing director Abinash, Kaushik, Anshuman, and Bidhubhusan to commit the fraud.