Fraud charges filed against billionaire Modi

MUMBAI • The first charges in a huge fraud case involving billionaire Nirav Modi and the state-run Punjab National Bank were filed by Indian investigators yesterday, officials and reports said.

A spokesman for the Central Bureau of Investigation said a charge sheet was filed in a Mumbai court over the alleged US$1.8 billion (S$2.4 billion) scam. Charges were laid against Modi and several top bank officials, such as Punjab National Bank's former chief Usha Ananthasubramanian, now chief executive officer of Allahabad Bank, said officials cited by Press Trust of India.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE

Emergency landing for Sichuan Airlines plane

BEIJING • A plane carrying 128 people made an emergency landing in south-west China yesterday after a cockpit window broke, injuring the co-pilot and a flight attendant, the authorities said.

The Airbus A319 of Sichuan Airlines was bound for Lhasa in Tibet from the south-west city of Chongqing when the incident occurred and the flight was diverted to Chengdu in Sichuan province. A Civil Aviation Administration of China statement said part of the cockpit window broke as the plane flew over Chengdu.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE

Ex-Petro Vietnam chief's appeal spurned

HANOI • A Vietnamese court yesterday rejected an appeal by a former politburo member who is serving a 13-year graft sentence for overseeing a loss-making investment as head of the country's largest oil firm, PetroVietnam.

Dinh La Thang was convicted earlier this year with 21 others of causing US$5.2 million (S$6.9 million) in losses to the state over an investment in a thermal power plant.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE