An Ahmedabad CBI court on Thursday convicted a former Indian Overseas Bank (IOB) manager on graft and forgery charges and sentenced her to seven years’ imprisonment and imposed a penalty of Rs 15.06 crore.
The court of special CBI judge Digant Arunbhai Vora held the accused – Preeti Vijay Sahjwani – a former senior manager at IOB’s Vastrapur branch, had “undeniably indulged in white collar crime and economic and social crime”.
The judge has held Sahjwani guilty under Prevention of Corruption Act’s sections 13 (1) (c), 13(1)(d), 13 (2) and IPC sections 467, 471 (forgery) and 409 (criminal breach of trust by bankers).
Sahjwani, between 1998 and 2001, was accused of allegedly cheating IOB to the tune of Rs 2.14 crore by way of crediting final maturity payments of FCNR (foreign currency non-resident) deposits of two accounts into two fictitious accounts – one a cash credit account and another a savings account – without any authority letter from the depositor or from the power of attorney holder.
She had also sanctioned loans and cash credits in the name of five fake persons, amounting to approximately Rs 1.40 crore against the security of unsurrendered deposit receipts of actual depositors, by making alterations in the amount, date, maturity value, etc. It was alleged that Sahjwani had caused a wrongful loss of over Rs 2 crore, including interest, as on July 27, 2001.
An offence was registered in 2001 and chargesheet was filed in October 2003 for criminal breach of trust, forgery of valuable security using forged documents, and criminal misconduct. It was alleged that Sahjwani had misused her official position by indulging in the offences.
The special CBI court, while imposing a fine of Rs 15 crore, which is to be returned to the bank, observed that taking into account the loss caused to the bank (which would amount to present day value worth over Rs 84 crore as on date), and inflation, interests etc, the court has taken into account the accused’s economic condition. Notably, the accused herself is a law graduate.
“The perpetrators of white collar crime are not the lower class citizens of the society but the middle class professionals, higher officials etc. The victims of white collar crime are common people of the society and the nation. The main motive behind white collar crimes is always financial gain and individuals committing these types of crimes enrich themselves illegally.
Wealth, luxurious life and financial stability motivate the guilty-minded persons to commit such crimes… Corruption crimes committed by public servants are more fatal to the society and the country than ordinary crimes because the consequences of white collar crime are far greater and far-reaching than ordinary crimes,” Judge Vora observed.
The judge said that the crimes of corruption undermine the morale and self-confidence of people while white collar criminals use their experience, position and well-educated mind in a planned manner and misuse the trust and confidence placed on them by the organisation.
Sanjhwani had been absconding during the probe and she was taken into custody only in 2012 after she was detained by Canadian immigration authorities and was deported to India in January 2012.
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