PNB Scam: Supreme Court to hear petition to “deport” Nirav Modi on Friday

The Supreme Court will hear a petition filed by advocate Vineet Dhanda praying for the “deportation” of Nirav Modi in connection with the PNB Scam on Friday..The matter was mentioned by advocate JP Dhanda before a Bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justices AM Khanwilkar and DY Chandrachud, which agreed to hear the matter on Friday..On February 14, Punjab National Bank had said in regulatory filing that it had discovered fraudulent and unauthorized transactions amounting to Rs.11,400 crore at a branch in Mumbai. Three of Diamantaire Nirav Modi’s companies had requested buyers’ credit to pay overseas suppliers. Since they had no pre-arranged credit limit, the branch official asked the companies to put down the full amount as collateral so that the bank could issue the Letters of Undertaking (LoUs) to authorize the credit..It later came to light that two junior employees at the Mumbai Branch of the Bank had helped the companies of Nirav Modi and his uncle Mehul Chowksi..Described by the petitioner as the biggest scam in the history of the banking system in India, the petition goes through the history of bank nationalization and how persons of influence have manipulated the system over the years..“The PNB scam shows that the rouge employees can easily manipulate system as there are no corroborations or checks and balances. A senior Central Banker says, “The menace of uncorroborated LOU (Letters of Undertaking) with no follow up documentation and checks is widespread and must be stopped or replaced by bank guarantees”.”.It further calls into question the role of the government in letting such a scam go undetected..“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 of this country.”.Apart from the “deportation” of Nirav Modi within two months, the petition also prays that agencies investigate the role of top management of the bank in the scam. Further, it seeks a direction to the Finance Ministry to set guidelines for the grant of high amount of loans. The constitution of a committee of experts to find the details of bad debts cases in the country has also been prayed for..The petition also calls upon the Finance Ministry to make rules for the recovery of loan from defaulters within stipulated period, “even resorting to attachment of their properties and providing for auction in the open market”. It also calls for making the officials/employees of the bank who sanctioned the loan liable for the recovery of the loan by affecting the recovery from their properties even after their retirement. Moreover, there is a prayer to,.“issue look out notice against the defaulters of the bank loans and immediately impound their passports so that they may not be able to run away to foreign countries.”.Read the petition:.Image taken from here