Press Trust of India The CBI on Friday questioned former Deputy Governor of the Reserve Bank of India Harun Rashid Khan in connection with bank scams involving jewellers Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi and relaxation of gold import rules in 2014 by the erstwhile UPA government, allegedly to the benefit of private traders.
Khan is the senior-most former official of the RBI to be questioned by the CBI in connection with the $2-billion scam in Punjab National Bank, (PNB) considered the biggest in the financial history of the country, sources said.
The questioning revolved around the policy framework of the time when fraudulent Letters of Undertaking (LoUs) were issued by PNB to the firms of Modi and Choksi, the sources added.
Khan was also questioned on the ‘20:80’ gold import scheme, which was cleared by then finance minister P Chidambaram on May 13, 2014, barely three days before the counting of votes of the general election, they said. The scheme had allegedly helped Choksi’s company and a few others make windfall gains.
After questioning the PNB top brass, the agency has now shifted its focus to the policies which could have been exploited by Modi and Choksi to further their alleged cheating.
The agency did not reveal the nature of Khan’s questioning. Khan was promoted from within the ranks as a deputy governor on July 1, 2011, and reappointed on July 4, 2014, for two more years.
He was in charge of financial markets, internal debt management departments, and foreign management, among others, at the central bank.