Vikram Pandit (Vikram Pandit news) has been effusive about Asia and how critical it is to the company. "So far this year, our franchise in Asia Pacific has been the largest contributor to the Company's net income," said the Citigroup CEO in a recent memo to employees. "Our deposits in the region stand at record highs, and we have helped our Asian clients raise more than $150 billion from the capital markets, including the largest-ever IPOs in Hong Kong, India, Singapore and the Philippines."

But in India at least, Pandit has run into a bit of controversy. Indian police quickly implicated 11 top Citigroup executives--including Pramit Jhaveri, head of the bank's India unit, North America Chief Operating Officer Douglas Peterson as well as CEO Pandit--in connection with an alleged scam at a Citi branch in New Delhi. They were subsequently cleared.

The scam probe centers on a man who worked at the branch who allegedly bilked money from high net worth individuals. It's doubtful this represents any real risk to Pandit and other U.S.-based Citigroup executives, though this sort of publicity is never welcome.

Citigroup has tangled with Asian regulators before, especially in Japan, where it developed a tainted reputation not so many years ago. Pandit would be wise to avoid India for a while.

For more:
- here's the memo via the New York Times
- here's an article on the India scam

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