Citi says working on ''fair compensation'' to fraud-affected

Mumbai, Jan 15 (PTI) Citibank, one of whose Gurgaonbranch employees is accused of a Rs 400-crore fraud, todaysaid that it is working towards providing a "faircompensation" to its affected customers.

The bank has been in touch with its impacted customersand is fully committed to safeguarding their legitimateinterests, it said in a statement here.

"As we have stated earlier, we identified suspicioustransactions at our Gurgaon Branch in early December andimmediately reported the matter to law enforcement andregulatory authorities. We have since been in contact with ourimpacted customers and are committed to safeguarding ourcustomers� legitimate interests," the statement said.

One of its employees, Shivraj Puri, is accused of luringhigh net-worth individuals to invest in a bogus investmentscheme on the pretext of high returns, while diverting thefunds to the stockmarket.

Yesterday, he was remanded to 14 days judicial custody(till January 28) by a local court. He was initially takeninto seven days police custody on December 30 last year afterthe scam was detected.

Later, the police remand of Puri was extended for sixdays on January 6 and then, subsequently, for two days onJanuary 12. .

Victims of the fraud include big names such as the promoters of the Hero Group (Rs 250-crore) and Helion AdvisorsManaging Director, Sanjeev Aggarwal (Rs 33-crore).

Puri is accused of luring about 40 high net-worthindividuals and corporate entities to invest in his scheme onthe false promise of securing sky-high returns for them.

The global banking major said that it has beenreconciling amounts involved with impacted customers and isnow commencing the process of working towards a faircompensation for them.

"This process will happen over a period of time. Wewould like to thank our customers for their patience andco-operation. We will also continue to support theinvestigating authorities fully until this matter is resolvedand brought to its logical conclusion," the statement said.