Bank Fraud: Modi Sarkar Tries to Shy Away From Responsibility

It is smoke and mirrors time again in India. After a stunned nation was informed that high flying jewellery tycoon Nirav Modi and his associates had defrauded the Punjab National Bank (PNB) of Rs.11,400 crore, an ugly slugfest has irrupted between the Congress and BJP. Under BJP pressure, most talking heads on television channels were pushing the view that all this happened during the previous Congress led regime. Union Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad claimed on Friday that the majority of “loans” sanctioned to the diamond businessmen Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi were during the UPA regime’s second term.

A closer look at the FIRs lodged by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) give a different narrative about the scam.

On Saturday, CBI filed a new FIR which mentions the LoUs worth over Rs 4886 crore fraudulently issued to Choksi during the 2017-18 period. The first FIR of January 31, 2018, was based on a complaint filed by the Deputy General Manager at Punjab National Bank (PNB), Avneesh Nepalia, saying that the partnership firms mentioned in the complaint had gained an amount of Rs 280.70 crore rupees while the bank suffered the loss of the same amount. This was later expanded, on the basis of information provided by PNB to Rs. 6,498 crore. The total amount is thus Rs.11,400 crore involving 293 letters of understanding (LOUs).

The CBI is questioning four officials of PNB who were in respective posts during the 2014-17 period. The officials include Bechu Tiwari, Chief Manager posted at Nariman Point branch, Mumbai during February 2015-17; Sanjay Kumar Prasad- AGM at Brady house branch during period 2016-17; Mohinder Kumar Sharma, concurrent auditor during Nov 2015-January 17; and Manoj Kharat, then Single Window Operator during November 2014-December 2017.

The trajectory of investigation, the FIRs, and the LOUs referred to – all are for the post 2014 period. So, it is squarely in BJP watch that this happened.

It must be added that this is the state of play as of 17 February. Indian scams have a nasty habit of revealing new dimensions as time passes. And the super rich in India have crony relationships with all big parties, especially Congress and BJP. So, anything above and beyond the present Rs.11,400 crore fraud is up for grabs.

But there is another rather damning reason why the Modi govt. is feeling the heat. Earlier complaints which had been filed to different government bodies and PM office itself give evidence that Modi government and its investigating agencies were aware of the fraudulent activities of Nirav Modi and his associates.

On May 7, 2015, a complaint was filed at the Ministry of Corporate Affairs by one Shri Vaibhav Khuraniya and R.M. Green Solution Private Limited. A copy of the complaint was also sent to Prime Minister’s Office, Enforcement Directorate, Serious Fraud Investigation Office. A similar complaint was filed to Deputy Commissioner of Police, Mumbai, too with a subject line “Complaint of cheating, criminal breach of trust, and fraud by Mr. Mehul C. Choksi, Chairman and MD of M/S Gitanjali Jewellery Ltd. punishable under section 420, 406, 468, 34/120B IPC,” said the Congress spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala while addressing the press on Thursday.

One more complaint was filed against Mehul Choksi and others for defrauding Digvijaysinh Jadeja. Jadeja registered this FIR in Ahmedabad Economic Offences Wing, Gujarat. Later, the matter went to Gujarat High Court, where Government of Gujarat was a party, In Special Criminal Application No. 4758 of 2015, Digvijaysinh Jadeja filed an affidavit on 20th July, 2016 specifically pointing out that Mehul Choksi and others owed a debt of Rs.9,872 crore to Banks and are likely to escape from India.

Again, a complaint was filed by Sri Hari Prasad to Prime Minister’s Office on July 26, 2016. Following this, another person one Mr. Vaibhav Khuraniya also emailed the complaint to SEBI, which was duly registered, on May 3, 2017.

With this, the Nirav Modi case starts looking like the Vijay Mallya one. Remember how everybody knew that Mallya, another of those super-rich, celebs, who consorted with film stars and cricketers, gobbled up over Rs.9000 crore worth of loans from banks and then fled to the UK in the nick of time?

So too Nirav Modi and his family, including Mehul Choksi. Early, January the whole gang stealthily evacuated out of India to settle down in various hotspots, the latest reports suggesting they are in New York. There are also tweets of pictures of Nirav Modi in a group photo-op with PM Modi at Davos in mid January.

Only at the end of January does PNB file a complaint with the police. By that time the birds have flown away. Just like Mallya did in 2016. Nirava Modi must have got wind that the game was up – as did Mallya.

Add all this up and the hazy picture begins to clear up – it’s a fraud, but also a connivance to let the criminal flee. And it looks like it happened under BJP’s watch.