By Agency reporter

Thursday, 6 Jan 2011

Delhi: Citigroup boss, Vikram Pandit and 10 other executives have been named in a complaint about an alleged scam at an Indian branch of the bank, the police has said.

According to British Broadcasting Corporation report on Wednesday.

An investor who says he has lost his savings in the alleged fraud at the branch near Delhi says Mr. Pandit and US-based colleagues were responsible.

Citibank said the complaint allegations were ”completely without basis, and we intend to contest them vigorously”.

A Citibank manager and a bike firm boss have already been arrested.

Shivraj Puri and Sanjay Gupta, a manager of a motorcycle company, deny defrauding clients out of millions of dollars and criminal conspiracy respectively.

No charges have been brought against Mr. Pandit or any of the other executives named in the complaint and there is no suggestion they were aware of any malpractice.

The bank has already said duped investors were promised quick, high returns in a bogus financial scheme exposed at a branch in Gurgaon, a wealthy suburb of the capital, Delhi.

On Tuesday, Sanjeev Aggarwal, the head of private equity firm Helion Advisers, named 11 executives in a complaint accusing the bank of a criminal breach of trust.

His complaint said the alleged fraud ”points to a systemic failure” in the company.

”The entire organisation is responsible, hence I have named (chief executive) Pandit,” Mr Aggarwal, who says he has lost his life savings, told the Indian Express newspaper.

The US-based executives named in Mr. Aggarwal‘s complaint include Mr. Pandit, the chairman, William R Rhodes, chief financial officer John Gerspach and the chief operating officer Douglas Peterson.

 

Source: Punch