Amid the alleged Rs 11,300 crore scam involving jeweller Nirav Modi and his uncle Mehul Choksi with Punjab National Bank (PNB) the Assocham has come up with an idea for the government to privatize the public sector banks.
In a regulatory filing lately PNB alleges Nirav Modi worked with one of their former employees named Gokulnath Shetty, deputy general manager in the foreign-exchange department, in its Mumbai branch, the place of origin of the gigantic fraud equivalent to eight times net income of the bank. Shetty then looked after import payments.
Nirav Modi is one of the richest men in India dealing in diamonds and pearls. He was at number 85 on the list of Forbe’s in 2017. He has dressed Bollywood as well as Hollywood including actors like Priyanka Chopra and Kate Winslet and Priyanka Chopra. He is 47-year-old, one of the youngest richest person in the country.
Meanwhile, special CBI Court in Mumbai has taken into remand three, retired PNB Deputy Manager Gokulnath Shetty, Single Window Operator Manoj Kharat and an authorised signatory of the prime accused Nirav Modi’s group companies, for fourteen days.
Chief Economic Advisor (CEA) Arvind Subramaniam said privatization could be the way to avoid such scams in future better governance recommendations of banks fails to guarantee the effectiveness of policies.
Passports of Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi have been suspended and more than 100 accounts linked to them have been blocked.
