Jan Ekta Jan Adhikar Andolan Demands Independent Probe on PNB Scam
Supreme Court must monitor investigation and Probe Role of PMO
Finance Minister must resign owning moral responsibility
Jan Ekta Jan Adhikar Andolan (JEJAA) strongly condemns the Narendra Modi led NDA Government for its utter failure and criminal omissions and commissions in preventing the Punjab National Bank (PNB) Scam despite advanced information and its role in helping the main accused to flee the country.
Since the role of the Prime Minister in the scam is indicated because of his proximity to the main culprits Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi, JEJAA demands that the Supreme Court must directly monitor the case and ensure that the CBI investigation team remains free from the influence of the PMO.
JEJAA also demands that the Finance Minister Mr Arun Jaitley take moral responsibility for the scam and step down. Both the central finance ministry and the Reserve Bank are equally responsible for the fraud in PNB. All the big advances made by the banks should be subjected to rigorous scrutiny by an independent agency under the direct monitoring of the Supreme Court.
This shocking story of fraud in the PNB is coming out when the banks are suffering massive losses on account of failed corporate debts. The instances of fraud will seriously undermine the very existence of the banking system, lead to loss of trust of the public in banks and can ultimately lead to its crash.
Neo-Liberal Policies Responsible for the Scam
It was along with the implementation of LPG policies in our country during 1991 that banks were forced to oblige and extend big loans to corporates, without any tangible assets. Usually banks give such guarantee certificates only if they get 110% as security amount. But now it has been revealed that since 2011, PNB has been giving such certificates without any security. Doing away with necessary controls and namesake inspections and investigations are examples of policies aiming to help the rich. Loans extended to big corporates yielding to the pressures from the higher authorities have become a big curse on the Indian Banking system. Fraud of crores of rupees being unearthed now from PNB is a result of this policy. The economic policies of Liberalization, Privatization and Globalization are directly responsible for such huge appropriation of public assets by the corporate forces. Blind support to Neo-Liberal policies by the ruling classes and their parties have only accentuated the crisis.
The evidences show that the period of the PNB scam is 2011-17 and happened both under the UPA and NDA rule. After Narendra Modi become Prime Minister the scam gained momentum and the accused have been enjoying the direct patronage of the PMO. Though the PMO received complaints way back in 2015 and again in 2016 about the PNB scam, Narendra Modi did not take any action to unearth the facts, expose the culprits and arrest them. The BJP-led NDA Government is culpable of deliberately allowing a situation for intensification of the crime and allowing the biggest banking fraud in the country’s history.
We cannot consider this as something confined to PNB. By making some lower level officials scapegoats, the authorities are trying to evade the discussions on true facts. The government is now trying to adopt the FRDI Bill in the Parliament in a hurry to shift the loss to the banks on account of non-payment of loans taken by big corporates onto the shoulders of the common masses of this country. The disastrous consequences of crony capitalism are now being borne by the banking system. JEJAA will mobilise the masses and build resistance to such disastrous policies.
Signed by
Hannan Mollah, Amarjeet Kaur, K Hemalata, Atul Kumar Anjan , Rajeev Dimri, Satyavan, Manoj Bhattacharya ,Dr.Sunilam, Anil Choudhury, Nikhil Dey, Mariam Dhawale, Annie Raja, Kavita Krishnan, Tirumalai, Vikram Singh, Gautam Modi, K Madhuresh Kumar, Roma Malik and P Krishnaprasad ( Members of the Co-ordination Committee)
Issued by
Hannan Mollah, Amarjeet Kaur
For Co-Ordination committee
New Delhi
20th February, 2018
