Mumbai: A magistrate’s court on Thursday convicted and sentenced two men, Raza Naqvi (38) and Varun Rana (41), to five years of rigorous imprisonment for their involvement in a sophisticated financial fraud amounting to Rs 68.22 crore against Shinhan Bank in 2020. Naqvi and Rana were found guilty of flouting norms by sending Rs 68 crore in two months to companies in the US and Singapore.The fraudulent scheme involved crediting significant amounts into accounts in Mumbai (M/s ID Technologies Private Limited) and Delhi (M/s Liqus Tradex Private Limited). Instructions were then given to immediately remit equivalent sums in foreign currency, primarily to Singapore and the US. The fraud, which took place between Sept and Dec 2020, came to light after Shinhan Bank’s New Delhi branch received a notice from the Cyber Cell, Odisha Police, regarding suspicious activities in M/s Liqus Tradex Pvt Ltd’s account. This prompted an internal inquiry by the bank’s Compliance Department, which uncovered high-volume, high-value domestic transactions inconsistent with the account holder’s profile. Further investigations revealed that the photographs on identity documents (Aadhaar and PAN cards) submitted for opening accounts for both M/s Liqus Tradex Pvt. Ltd (New Delhi) and M/s ID Technologies Pvt Ltd (Mumbai) were identical, despite bearing different names.While another accused, Sumit Verma, was acquitted, two others, Anuj Kumar Chand and Sunita Devi, remain absconding. Public prosecutor Pravina Patil argued that it is a white-collar crime and had a significant effect on society. In a 60-page judgment, the magistrate stated that evidence from prosecution witnesses established that Raza Naqvi appeared before Shinhan Bank officials and participated in the account opening process of M/s ID Technologies Pvt Ltd by falsely identifying himself as Santosh Kumar. “Subsequently, this account was used to carry out large-scale foreign remittances amounting to Rs 68 crore, based on documents and representation believed to be genuine by bank officials...,” additional chief judicial magistrate RD Chavan said. The magistrate said that prosecution evidence proved that accused Varun Rana posed as Jogendrasingh and represented himself as a director of M/s ID Technologies Pvt Ltd to Shinhan Bank. “Real Jogendra Singh has categorically denied having opened any such account…,” the magistrate said.
