MUMBAI, March 19 -- After a 16-year-long trial, a special CBI court has convicted a Bank of India official and four others in a Rs.3.55 crore fraud case involving a forged Letter of Credit (LC), while acquitting 11 accused. The court held that the fraud was the result of a"criminal conspiracy" to cheat the bank, with the key accused knowingly discounting a fabricated LC in violation of banking norms, enabling diversion of funds by conspirators. This includes Manoj Kumar Omprakash Mathur, then a senior manager at Bank of India's Nariman Point branch, and key private beneficiaries linked to the transaction. Mathur was also found guilty under the Prevention of Corruption Act. The court found that the LC, purportedly issued by HDFC Bank's Lower Parel branch, was fake. The judgement citied multiple discrepancies, including use of a letterhead instead of security paper, incorrect numbering and an unauthorised signatory. The court also noted that the branch shown as issuing the LC "was not authorised to issue Letter of Credit". The court criticised the bank official for bypassing mandatory verification procedures. Instead of confirming the LC with the issuing bank, verification was done through a phone number arranged by a co-accused, which the court termed "dubious". The court found that the accused official had "not adopted proper procedure and discounted LC without verifying its genuineness", despite being responsible for ensuring compliance with guidelines. Tracing the money trail, the court found that Rs.3.55 crore was credited upon discounting the forged LC and routed through multiple accounts. The prosecution established that these transactions were part of a coordinated effort to cause "wrongful loss" to the bank and corresponding gains to the conspirators. The CBI registered this case in 2010 following a complaint from a Bank of India official. The chargesheet was subsequently filed in 2012, and charges were framed between 2021 and 2022. Following the examination of 31 witnesses, the trial concluded on Wednesday....