Fake Bank Guarantee Fraud of Rs.294.49 crore reported in Punjab National Bank

A big scam of Rs.294.49 crore has been reported in Punjab National Bank (PNB). 37 Fake Bank Guarantees (BG) of Rs.294.49 crore were prepared by unknown individuals, falsely representing them as issued by Punjab National Bank.

Further scrutiny revealed that unknown persons used fabricated documents in an attempt to defraud the Bank. It was also observed that no corresponding documentation or records supporting the issuance of these BGs exist within the concerned branches.

No physical copies of the alleged BGs are available at the branches. None of the applicants of the fake BGs are availing any credit facilities from the respective zones. The rubber stamps used in the fake BGs do not match those used by the branches. Moreover, the name of the authorized bank officials are imprinted on the fake stamps, which is not a practice followed by the Bank. The names of the signing officials on the fake BGs do not correspond with any officials posted at the branches.

The employee IDs mentioned in the fake BGs do not match any valid employee ID numbers of the Bank. The letter head used as covering letters of the fake BGs is entirely different from the official stationery used by the Bank.

Earlier, The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) arrested two persons, including a senior official of the Punjab National Bank (PNB), for their alleged involvement in a ₹183 crore forged bank guarantee submission fraud to secure multiple irrigation projects in Madhya Pradesh.

Govind Chandra Hansda, a senior manager at PNB, and Mohammed Firoz Khan were arrested from Kolkata after multiple raids at 23 locations in New Delhi, West Bengal, Gujarat, Jharkhand, and Madhya Pradesh on June 19 and 20. The arrests expose an inter-state gang involved in helping companies obtain fake bank guarantees to secure government projects in various States.

The agency said that Teerth Gopicon Ltd., an Indore-based company, secured three irrigation projects in 2023 in Madhya Pradesh, worth ₹974 crore from Madhya Pradesh Jal Nigam Limited (MPJNL). To support these contracts, eight fake bank guarantees valued at ₹183.21 crores were submitted to the MPJNL.

During initial verification, MPJNL received fraudulent email responses impersonating the official domain of PNB, falsely confirming the authenticity of the bank guarantees. Relying on these confirmations, MPJNL awarded the three contracts to the firm.

This incident highlights the serious level of fraud taking place in the issuance and handling of Bank Guarantees. It raises grave concerns about the existing security measures and internal checks followed by banks. To safeguard public trust and protect customers, banks must urgently strengthen the security and verification process of Bank Guarantees and ensure stricter monitoring to prevent such scams in the future.

.