Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Saturday slammed regulators for failing to detect the ₹11,400-crore fraud in the Punjab National Bank (PNB) for seven long years, saying unlike politicians, regulators in the Indian system are unaccountable.
Speaking on the scam for the second time this week, he said employees conniving with fraudsters was worrisome. Also worrisome was that no red flag was raised, he said adding regulators should have a third eye open to detect and check such frauds, he said at an event organised by a financial daily.
He said the banking industry needed to get into the habit of doing “ethical” business as such frauds were “scars” and pushed reforms and 'ease of doing business' to the background.
Unethical behaviour in the lender-borrower relation had to end. “If needed laws will be tightened further to punish delinquent persons.”
He also slammed bank managements for failing to do their job, saying inadequate supervision and top management being unaware of what was going on in the bank was worrisome.
