Loot with impunity

It no longer comes as a surprise that a scam in India is detected only after culprits escape the country. Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi are new additions in the list of smart fraudsters living a luxurious life abroad. The latest corporate offender Nirav was seen in the World Economic Forum at Davos along with India’s top business and political leaders promoting ‘Brand India’, days after Punjab National Bank had detected the fraud internally on January 15. Choksi also fled to a foreign land, apparently for some medical treatment, well before the bank decided to make the multi-crore fraud public. Whether it is notorious Vijay Mallya or disgraced Lalit Modi — the pattern is the same. Scams took place under one political regime and scamsters fled the country under the other. Therefore, both the incumbent and the predecessor lack any political will to thoroughly investigate these scams. Undoubtedly, the businessman-politician nexus is strong and omnipresent.

The growing culture of crony capitalism has encouraged unscrupulous businessmen to siphon off huge sums from financial institutions, particularly public sector banks, with impunity. The daylight robbery is covered up by classifying such bad loans as “non-performing assets” or NPAs. The burden of such losses are eventually borne by nameless taxpayers. This is how Indian banks have accumulated about Rs 10 lakh crore NPAs. Although, the incumbent blames the erstwhile government for this fraud, it lacks political will to nab the culprits. Frauds of this scale cannot happen without the nexus of the rich and the mighty. But, none is held accountable to date. Such frauds cannot be brushed under the carpet. They call for a CBI probe. 

The PNB naively wants the citizens to believe that the $1.77 billion scam was committed by some small-time managers. How could such large transactions take place bypassing the surveillance system? Top officials, including the chairman, are paid huge salaries and perks to implement a robust system. Hence, they should be held accountable. Rs 11,400 crore is not peanuts. The money is enough to salvage the entire farming community of cash-strapped Punjab. Bank frauds will never stop unless chairmen and top managers are held accountable and punished for lapses.