State will chase down cheaters: FM on PNB scam

New Delhi, February 20

Breaking his silence over the Rs 11,400 crore loan fraud at India's second-biggest bank, PNB, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Tuesday criticised auditors for their failure to detect the scam, and said his government would track down those who “cheated the banking system”.

Without naming Punjab National Bank or billionaire diamantaire Nirav Modi, Jaitley said bank management did not live up to their task as it failed to detect the delinquent.

He went on to blame auditors for being unable to detect irregularities and asked supervisory agencies to assess the system requirement to detect such frauds.

 He said supervisory agencies should ensure that stray cases are nipped in the bud and they are never repeated.

Jaitkey’s statements come at a time when the central government is facing the heat for two bank fraud scandals that came to light within a week of one another.

The first one involves Modi, who has been accused of defrauding Punjab National Bank of loans that currently stand at Rs 11,400 crore. Investigating agencies have booked Modi, his wife Ami Modi, his uncle Mehul Choksi and three officials of the Punjab National Bank in the case. Although some officials of the bank have already been arrested, Modi and Choksi—chairman on Gitanjali Group, which is also named in Central Bureau of Investigation’s FIR—are currently untraceable.    

The second case involves another business tycoon. Kanpur-based Vikram Kothari of Rotomac Global Private Ltd. has been accused of defaulting in loans that currently stand at over Rs 3,000 crore—a sum that includes interest.

Investigating agencies have registered FIRs in both cases and conducted searches. PTI/Agencies