The court said such a deterrent measure was necessary to rid the country of the growing scourge of corruption.
Special CBI judge V K Maheshwari also imposed a fine of Rs two lakh on the convict, Tilak Raj Bedi, a businessman and Rs one lakh on S Satish Kumar, former chief manager of Syndicate Bank's Mayapuri branch here.
"Corruption is a scourge that not only severely affects progress and development but also poses a grave challenge to governance itself. Anti corruption measures in India are perceived by the people to be weak and ineffective.
"More than corruption itself, it is widespread public perception that corrupt officials is not or would not be punished, that is detrimental to the society," the court said.
According to the CBI, Kumar, who was posted with the Mayapuri branch as chief manager, had advanced illegal pecuniary benefit to himself and Bedi by abusing his official position. He also overlooked the suspicious conduct of the firm in operating its account. The case relates to fraudulent activities during 1998-99.
Bedi, owner of Priya Textile, had procured enhanced credit limit with the bank by showing inflated value of property kept as collateral and by producing fake export order from a Dhaka-based importer.
He also secured transfer of letter of credit amount to the account of M/s Priya Textile on the basis of undated letter of request without informing the letter of credit opening bank, Arab Bangladesh Bank Ltd, even though the financial institution had sought cancellation of the letter.
The court found that the fund issued against the Packaging Credit Limit (PCL) for the purpose of export was utilised for meeting personal expenses in violation of the terms and conditions.
"Satish Kumar by abusing his official position in connivance and conspiracy with his co-accused (Bedi) obtained pecuniary advantage illegally or by corrupt means to M/s Priya Textiles and caused wrongful loss to the bank and wrongful gain to Bedi and himself," the court said.