FILE PHOTO: A man walks past India’s Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) headquarters building in New Delhi, India, March 6, 2018. REUTERS/Adnan Abidi
April 17, 2018
NEW DELHI (Reuters) – Indian police have launched an investigation into a Delhi-based pharmaceutical company for allegedly defrauding state-run Punjab & Sind Bank and four other banks of 6.21 billion rupees ($94.57 million), police said.
“Investigation is continuing,” Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), the federal police, said in a statement on Tuesday. The CBI said the searches were conducted at seven locations and recovered some documents.
The police acted following a complaint from the Punjab & Sind Bank against Surya Pharmaceuticals <SURP.NS>, its two promoters and a Dubai-based company, alleging they had defrauded the banks and siphoned off funds through group companies, a police report reviewed by Reuters showed.
Reuters’ attempts to contact officials of Surya Pharmaceuticals and Punjab & Sind Bank officials through phone and email outside office hours remained unanswered.
The finance ministry had earlier asked all banks to step up vigilance following a $2 billion fraud in February at India’s second-biggest state-run lender Punjab National Bank <PNBK.NS>.
(Reporting by Nigam Prusty, Writing by Manoj Kumar, Editing by William Maclean)
