Citi fraud: Police to examine records of Norman Martin Brokers

Gurgaon, Jan 12 (PTI) Deepening the probe into the Rs 400crore Citibank fraud, the police will investigate records ofNorman Martin Brokers, which employs Raghuraj Puri, the fatherof Shivraj Puri, the alleged mastermind of the scam.

Police sources said Norman Martin Brokers, which has itsparent company in Europe, was used to channel about Rs 50crore by Shivraj Puri, a relationship manager with Citibank.

Raghuraj Puri is one of the directors of Norman MartinBrokers which has its office in New Delhi. A local court willhear tomorrow his plea for anticipatory bail.

The police claimed that Shivraj Puri during his custodyrevealed that Rs 50 crore was channled through Norman Martin.

Puri is accused of luring high net-worth individuals toinvest in bogus schemes by promising unusually high returns,which he falsely substantiated with a forged letter frommarket regulator Sebi.

It is also alleged that Puri used two other firms--Religare and Bonanza -- for investing money solicited from incomplicated derivative products.

Meanwhile, sources said that two senior Citibankofficials met Gurgaon Police Commissioner S S Deswal andinformed that the bank has stared looking into the grievancesof investors and customers affected by the fraud.

Ashok Swarup, Managing Director, Corporate Affairs, andRajiv Nair, Managing Director and head of capital marketorigination, met Deswal.

Meanwhile, a local court today extended the police remandof Shivraj Puri by two days till January 14 after police saidthey are yet to recover vital evidences, including an iPad.

Most of the funds were invested by Puri into Niftyoptions -- a derivative product with the NSE benchmark indexNifty as underlying security, where the investor has noobligation to take the delivery and needs to pay only marginmoney.