The Supreme Court on Tuesday agreed to hear a petition for an investigation against the “top management” of Punjab National Bank (PNB) and deport in two months diamond merchant Nirav Modi, who is at the centre of an alleged ₹11,500-crore bank fraud.
Responding to an oral mentioning, a Bench, led by Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra, ordered that the public interest litigation petition be listed for an urgent hearing on February 21.
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The petition, filed by Vineet Dhanda who was represented by advocate J.P. Dhanda, asked how the banks could allow “scamsters” to get away with the fraud when small borrowers were given a hard time for defaulting on a small amount. “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,” the petition said.
Mr. Dhanda argued that the “common factor” among Lalit Modi, Vijay Mallya and Nirav Modi was that they all seemed “very close to the corridors of power”. The petitioner said letters of undertaking were issued “magnanimously” by the PNB. How could the bank be cheated for years when every transaction had to be accounted for at the end of business hours daily, the petition asked.
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“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 Reserve Bank of India did not do its job properly. There is audit of every bank account.”
The petitioner called for guidelines to be framed by the Finance Ministry for loans more than ₹10 crore. In case of default, the passports of “high-loan” borrowers should be impounded immediately and the money recovered by a public auction of their assets. The assets of the “rogue” bank officials, whether serving or retired, should be attached and criminal cases filed against them. The petitioner asked for a list of those who had borrowed over ₹500 crore.