New Delhi, Dec 29 (IANS): A special CBI court in Chennai has sentenced a former manager of the Union Bank of India to five years rigorous imprisonment for siphoning of the bank's funds, an official said on Friday,

While the bank official, identified as K. Bhaskar Rao, has been slapped a fine of Rs 10.76 lakh too, his wife K. Sailaja was also sentenced to undergo three years rigorous imprisonment with a fine of Rs 37,000.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had registered a case on July 31, 2009 against the accused.

"It was alleged that while working as Manager, Union Bank of India, Sowcarpet Branch, Chennai during the year 2007-09 and also looking after the Advances Department of the branch, had defrauded the bank and siphoned bank's funds," a senior CBI official said.

The accused adopted different modus operandi for his personal benefits and manipulated the entries in the Core Banking System (CBS) of the bank by using his own user ID and user IDs of other officers of the bank.

"The accused also made unauthorised transactions such as reactivating the Dormant SB Accounts, by way of creating fictitious loans against deposits and invested the money with various investment companies, on shares in his name and in the name of his wife," the official said.

According to CBI, a loss to the tune of Rs 4,10,81,000 was caused to the bank. While Rs.3,12,32,000 was recovered by the bank, an amount of Rs 98,49,000 was outstanding.

"After investigation, CBI filed a charge sheet against the accused on August 9, 2010. The Trial Court found both the accused guilty and convicted them," the official added.