Fri. Mar 29th, 2024
Punjab National Bank (PNB)

India is slowly turning into a society of well skilled artists. Where performers are appreciated on stage on one side, others are leaving the economy disturbed, con artists if you may. Malya must be feeling his shine being stolen, for he was the centre of attention till now. Adding to the list along with State Bank of India, now Punjab National Bank too is under scrutiny.

The Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT) provides a network that enables financial institutions worldwide to send and receive information about financial transactions in a secure, standardized and reliable environment.

The same network aided 2 bankers and one top official In celebrity designer Nirav Modi’s firm in Rs 11,300 crore scam.

How was it executed?

PNB employees issued fake LoUs, on the back of which foreign branches of a few Indian banks — including Axis and Allahabad Bank — gave dollar loans to PNB. These foreign currency loans were used to fund PNB’s Nostro accounts and from these accounts funds moved to certain overseas parties. A Nostro account is the account an Indian bank (here, PNB) has with an overseas bank.

Based on unauthorised Lo-Us, the PNB employees misused the SWIFT network to transmit messages to Allahabad Bank.

How was it discovered?

The fraud, which has been going on since 2010, came to light in January after Shetty retired. Subsequently, claims of Allahabad Bank, Union Bank of India and Axis Bank for rollover of LoUs were not honoured by the new staffer overlooking the accounts. Shetty went untraceable since then.

Even though Modi is not at fault here, somehow this is the third person to fool and take up the money and somehow the middle class is bound to suffer under, puts the entire perspective under a microscope. If BJP needs a win in elections next year, Malya and Modi need to be taken under-arrest and the economy to be at stable grounds.