The Enforcement Directorate has attached assets worth over Rs 14 crore belonging to the Gitanjali Group and its promoter and jeweller Mehul Choksi, one of the prime accused in the alleged over Rs 13,000 crore PNB loan fraud case. The properties attached, under the anti-money laundering law, include a flat measuring 1,460 sq feet located at O2 Tower in Goregaon area of Mumbai, gold and platinum jewellery, diamond stones, necklaces made of silver and pearls, watches and a Mercedes Benz car, the ED said in a statement. A provisional order for attachment has been issued under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) for the assets worth a total Rs 14.45 crore that are in the name of Gitanjali Group of companies and its director Mehul Choksi, it said.
There can't be a parallel inquiry and parallel monitoring by the courts, Attorney General K K Venugopal told the court.
Once such a notice is issued against a fugitive, the Interpol asks its 192-member countries to arrest or detain the person if spotted in their countries after which extradition or deportation proceedings can begin.
With a deployment of Rs 2,720 crore in July, MFs' total investment in HDFC Bank in calendar year 2024 (till now) surged to Rs 48,820 crore.
PNB took the delivery of these high-end luxury cars worth approximately Rs 1.34 crore last month, unmindful of the coronavirus outbreak, subsequent nation-wide lockdown and its crippling effect on the financial sector as well as the economy. The annual depreciation on this purchase will be around about Rs 20 lakh.
Kingfisher Airlines has defaulted on loans of over Rs 9,400 crore obtained from various banks.
"Fitch Ratings has placed Punjab National Bank's (PNB) Viability Rating of 'bb' on Rating Watch Negative (RWN), following the large fraud reported by PNB," the US-based agency said in a statement.
ICAI intends to investigate the chartered accountants of PNB but the bank allegedly refuses to give the information sought.
The bank also issued 234 LoUs worth Rs 1,880 crore to another group of companies promoted by Mehul Choksi in 2015 and 2016
Bank of America has been hit by a whistleblower complaint that its officials in Asia had shared "non-public information" with investors "before the bank sold hundreds of millions of dollars of stock", reports the Wall Street Journal.
PNB Housing Finance on Wednesday said it will disclose the outcome of shareholders' meeting held a day earlier -- on Rs 4,000 crore capital infusion led by Carlyle Group -- in accordance with the order of the Securities Appellate Tribunal next month. The company moved the tribunal on Monday after the capital markets regulator asked it on June 18 not to go ahead with the proposed capital raise plan by allotting preference shares to the investors until it carried out a valuation of shares from an independent registered valuer. The SAT in an order dated June 21 allowed the company to go ahead with the EGM, but restricted it not to announce the voting results by the shareholders, as the matter is pending before the court.
With the entire fraud amount becoming a non-performing asset, around 25 per cent of the bank's estimated net worth of Rs 40,000 crore could be affected.
Upgradation to the new product (from Infosys) will stabilise by this month-end
The government had moved NCLT to freeze the assets of 19 people after CBI filed a charge sheet in Nirav Modi's case and Gitanjali Group cases.
The Reserve Bank has permitted PNB to make provisions against the fraud amount.
A bench of Chief Justice G Rohini and Justice Rajiv Sahai Endlaw issued notice to the airline and the central government seeking their replies within a week on PNB's plea.
It appears that the BJP government has succeeded in managing the communication of the PNB scam in a manner that its adverse impact on its electoral fortunes is largely contained
Govt tells PSBs to integrate banking systems, rotate staff as a policy
Wanted diamond merchant Nirav Modi, who remains behind bars in a London prison as he contests his extradition to India on charges of fraud and money laundering in the estimated $2-billion Punjab National Bank (PNB) scam case, will find out the UK court's ruling in the nearly two-year-long legal battle on Thursday. The 49-year-old is expected to appear via videolink from Wandsworth Prison in south-west London at Westminster Magistrates' Court, where District Judge Samuel Goozee is set to hand down his judgment on whether the jeweller has a case to answer before the Indian courts. The magistrates' court ruling will then be sent back to UK Home Secretary Priti Patel for a sign off, with the possibility of appeals in the High Court on either side depending on the outcome.
The event will also hurt PNB's asset quality in the March 2018 quarter. While the finer details of the fraud have not been provided, making it difficult to gauge the exact impact, analysts say it will dent the bank's financials.
The 12,000-page charge sheet further claimed that a similar fraud was detected in 2016 following which the RBI took up the issue and issued circulars to all banks.
About 40 per cent of the money lost by banks in the PNB scam and the fraud linked to fugitive businessman Vijay Mallya's defunct Kingfisher Airlines has been realised by way of sale of shares seized under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), the Enforcement Directorate said on Wednesday.
The large wilful defaulters, according to the list published by PNB, include embattled businessman Vijay Mallya's Kingfisher Airlines with an outstanding of Rs 597.44 crore.
According to ED sources Sunil Mehta said the fraud took place due to "systemic failure" and "procedural lapses", owing to lack of interface or proper links between the core banking software and the SWIFT interbank messaging system.
Gross Non-Performing Assets rose to 12.90 per at the end of March, from 6.55 per cent a year ago.
He escaped the country in the first week and took the oath of allegiance in Antigua on January 15
Punjab National Bank on Friday said it has reduced education loan rates of its existing schemes by up to 1.25 per cent effective from April 1.
'We have already sanctioned loans worth over Rs 3,000 crore to around 120,000 customers.'
'There are so many issues that the CVC is examining both with reference to the PNB and RBI,' K V Chowdary said.
The bank has one of the highest current account savings account share, stable credit quality, robust credit growth, adequate capital and low cost-to-income ratio, said PNB chief Sunil Mehta.
The second public offering of Punjab National Bank was oversubscribed by two times within minutes of its opening on Monday.
Punjab National Bank on Tuesday obtained permission to start its operations in Afghanistan and plans to open offices in Dubai and Shanghai as well.
In what could trigger another interest rate war, the Punjab National Bank has announced an array of concessions under its festival bonanza including 0.50 per cent cut in housing loans at 7.75 per cent.
Diamantaire Mehul Choksi, a key accused in the multi-crore PNB scam, has told a special court in Mumbai that he hasn't been able to return to India "due to reasons beyond his control" and hence cannot be declared a "fugitive economic offender". The accused has claimed that he didn't leave India to avoid criminal prosecution nor is he refusing to return to the country. He said his passport has been suspended by Indian authorities.
While PNB did not name the other lenders, Union Bank of India, Allahabad Bank and Axis Bank are said to have offered credit based on letters of undertaking (LOUs) issued by PNB. Foreign bank branches too are under investigation.
RBI seeks detailed report on what happened between 2011 and now; bankers to recall loans to Nirav Modi entities.
The venue for Saturday's meeting was shifted at the last minute from the headquarters of the India Banks' Association in Cuffe Parade to avoid media glare.
Gokulnath Shetty, then deputy manager (now retired), Manoj Kharat, a single window operator of PNB, and Hemant Bhat were taken into custody by the agency
