ED summons Mehta in South Indian Bank case

MUMBAI, Jan 30: As part of the ongoing investigations into the Rs 269-crore South Indian Bank forex scam, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) has issued summons to Prabhakar L Mehta, brother-in-law of Dinesh Bhuva, the prime accused in the case. Mehta, who had failed to turn up before the ED on December 26, has now been asked to appear on February 3.

The ED suspects that Bhuva, who was absconding for several months after the scam was detected, had siphoned off money to Prabhakar Mehta’s account in New Jersey. Bhuva was arrested in Pune on Tuesday and has been remanded to judicial custody till February 10.

The scam involved the remittance of foreign exchange at the Nariman Point branch of the South Indian Bank on the basis of fake import documents.

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The ED, it is learnt, has seized documents relating to two bank accounts of Mehta in the First National Bank and Bank of Leumi, New Jersey, following a raid on December 22, 1997.

The ED is also investigating Mehta’s trips to Hong Kong during 1992-97, when Bhuvaallegedly executed the remittance part of the conspiracy.