National News
SC agrees to hear plea to order probe against PNB top management; deport Nirav Modi in 2 months
The Supreme Court on Tuesday agreed to hear a petition to direct an investigation to be launched against the “top management” of the Punjab National Bank (PNB) and deport diamond merchant Nirav Modi, who is at the centre of an alleged ₹11,000 crore banking loan fraud, in two months.
Responding to an oral mentioning, a Bench led by Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra ordered the PIL to be listed for urgent hearing on February 21.
The petition filed by Vineet Dhanda, represented by advocate J.P. Dhanda, asked how could banks allow “scamsters” get away with fraud when small borrowers are given a hard time over the slightest default.
“Such a big scam cannot be possible without the help of very big persons in the government. There seems to be involvement of highly placed persons,” it said.
Mr. Dhanda argued that the “common factor” found among those like Lalit Modi, Vijay Mallya and Nirav Modi was that they all had seemed “very close to the power corridor”.
The petitioner said letters of undertaking were “magnanimously issued” by the Punjab National Bank. How could the bank be cheated for years when every transaction has to be accounted for daily at the end of business hours, the PIL asked.
“Two employees of the PNB were able to bankroll a fraud for several years. But how could this go on for six years? Why did the PNB management not take notice of this fraud?” the petitioner asked the SC.
“The Reserve Bank of India did not do its job properly. There are auditing of every bank account,” the petitioner argued before the Bench.
The petitioner called for guidelines to be framed by the Finance Ministry for loans worth over ₹10 crore. In case of default, their passports should be immediately impounded and recovery be made from the assets of a “high-loan” borrower. His attached properties should be sold via public auction. The “rogue” bank officials concerned, whether serving or retired, should also be made liable. Their properties should be attached and criminal cases lodged against them.
The petitioner has also asked for a list of borrowers whose bank loans are worth over ₹500 crore.
