Standard Chartered sues Citibank, citing Indian securities scandal.

LONDON -- Standard Chartered PLC has begun legal proceedings against Citibank in connection with allegedly fraudulent securities transactions in India.

The British bank, which has $44 billion in assets, said it had filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, seeking to recover the equivalent of $41 million.

The claim relates to securities transactions between September 1991 and March 1992, when the Indian markets were hit by a widespread scandal in which funds were siphoned out of the government securities market to fund a stock boom.

Standard Chartered has estimated its total exposure to the alleged fraud at $272 million and is taking legal action against several parties.

The London-based bank declined to specify the exact nature of the transactions on which it based the claim against the Citicorp unit.

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