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Allahabad Bank Divests CEO Usha Ananthasubramanian Of All Powers

Allahabad Bank divests CEO Usha Ananthasubramanian of all powers following finance ministry’s order.

Usha Ananthasubramanian, former chief executive officer of Punjab National Bank, speaks during the FIBAC banking conference in Mumbai, India. (Photographer: Dhiraj Singh/Bloomberg)  
Usha Ananthasubramanian, former chief executive officer of Punjab National Bank, speaks during the FIBAC banking conference in Mumbai, India. (Photographer: Dhiraj Singh/Bloomberg)  

The board of state-owned Allahabad Bank Ltd. today divested its managing director and chief executive officer Usha Ananthasubramanian of all powers with immediate effect, following a directive from the finance ministry after she was named in the CBI’s charge sheet in the PNB fraud case.

Ananthasubramanian, was the MD and CEO of Punjab National Bank Ltd. till May 2017.

Yesterday, the finance ministry had asked the boards of Allahabad Bank and PNB to take action against Ananthasubramanian and two executive directors of PNB. PNB had yesterday divested its two executive directors of all powers.

“...the Board of Directors of the Bank in its meeting held on date has decided that Smt Usha Ananthasubramanian, MD and CEO be divested of all functional responsibilities of the Bank with immediate effect...,” Allahabad Bank said in a regulatory filing.

It further asked the government to make suitable arrangements for smooth functioning of the bank.

The CBI yesterday filed its first charge sheet in the PNB fraud case detailing the roles of Nirav Modi, his brother Nishal Modi and Subhash Parab, an executive in Nirav Modi’s company.

Meanwhile, PNB today said that its total liability works out to Rs 14,356.84 crore on account of the fraud allegedly carried out by jewellery designer Nirav Modi and associates.

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PNB Agrees To Honour All LoUs In Nirav Modi Case

The fraud was detected at PNB’s Brady House branch in Mumbai involving certain accounts under ‘gems and jewellery’ sector wherein, through apparent connivance between “these entities and few employees of the bank”, some LoUs/FLCs were issued fraudulently to certain overseas branches of Indian banks through misuse of the SWIFT messaging system.