Skip to content
Search

Latest Stories

Two India’s PNB Executives Sacked For Lapses In two billion dollar Fraud

India has sacked two executives of state-run Punjab National Bank (PNB) for allegedly failing to prevent a two billion dollar fraud, two sources said on Sunday (20), nearly a year after the country's biggest bank scam came to light and also dragged the government into the controversy.

The firing of the two executive directors, whom the federal police have accused of breaching central bank guidelines, is the first instance of sacking of the bank's employees since it said that billionaire diamond jeweller Nirav Modi and his uncle had for years fraudulently raised billions of dollars in foreign credit by conspiring with staff at the bank.


Modi and his uncle Mehul Choksi, who left India before the fraud was discovered, have denied the accusations.

In a stock exchange filing late on Friday (19), the country’s second-biggest state bank said the government had removed K Veera Brahmaji Rao and Sanjiv Sharan "from the office of executive director" with immediate effect. The filing did not give a reason.

The government then fired them because "they failed to use global payments network SWIFT to detect the fraud", a bank source said. The sources who had direct knowledge of the matter and declined to be identified because the reasons for the sacking have not been made public.

"They were not able to supervise and there was a dereliction of duty on their part," said one of the sources, a government official.

Phone calls to PNB Chief Executive Sunil Mehta as well as to Rao and Sharan went unanswered.

The 124-year-old bank has in recent months reinstated most of the 21 employees who were suspended immediately after the scam became public because they were not charged by police.

Political Issue

India has issued non-bailable warrants against both Modi and Choksi and Interpol red notices are out too, but their continued evading of the law is being used by India's main opposition Congress party to target prime minister Narendra Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the lead up to a general election due by May.

"Your money, money of our tribal brothers, lower castes, farmers were taken away and you did not even realise," Congress president Rahul Gandhi said in a state election rally late last year. "Nirav Modi fled after taking the money, Mehul Choksi also fled with him."

The BJP, meanwhile, says the fraud began when Congress was in power.

Investigations into the case had been slowed by a public spat between the top-two officials in the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), the Indian equivalent of the US FBI, said a source with direct knowledge of the matter.

A CBI spokesman did not have an immediate comment on the matter.

India's Enforcement Directorate (ED), which fights financial crime, has seized assets worth millions of dollars of both jewellers.

A senior ED investigator told Reuters late last year that they were confident both Modi and Choksi would be brought back to the country "soon". He said the Indian embassies in the UK, where Modi is believed to be in, and the one in Antigua, where Choksi is, were in constant touch with authorities with information about them.

"We know fear bells have started ringing there," said the ED investigator, who declined to be named as he was not authorised to talk to reporters. "We want them to be brought back to India before the elections."

A call to the ED office went unanswered.

Reuters

More For You

OpenAI Restricts ChatGPT’s Image Feature After Viral Ghibli Trend

Altman addressed the impact of the popular Ghibli-style image trend on OpenAI’s resources

Getty

OpenAI limits ChatGPT’s image generation feature amid viral Ghibli image trend

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has announced temporary limitations on the company’s image generation feature in response to overwhelming demand driven by a viral trend. On Thursday, Altman addressed the impact of the popular Ghibli-style image trend on OpenAI’s resources, particularly its reliance on GPUs (graphics processing units). Altman revealed that the surge in demand for ChatGPT’s image generation tool has led to significant strain on the company’s infrastructure, prompting the introduction of temporary speed limits for users.

In a post on X (formerly Twitter), Altman shared the company’s response to the unexpected demand, stating, “It’s super fun seeing people love images in ChatGPT, but our GPUs are melting. We are going to temporarily introduce some rate limits while we work on making it more efficient. Hopefully won’t be long! ChatGPT free tier will get 3 generations per day soon.”

Keep ReadingShow less
UK-business-district-Getty
The Canary Wharf business district including global financial institutions in London. (Photo: Getty Images)

Economic growth in 2024 slightly higher than estimated: ONS

THE UK economy grew slightly more than first estimated in 2024, according to official data released on Friday, providing a small boost for the government after it revised down its growth forecast for 2025.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said gross domestic product expanded by 1.1 per cent in 2024, up from an initial estimate of 0.9 per cent.

Keep ReadingShow less
Sri Lanka posts five per cent GDP growth as it ends years of economic decline

Sri Lanka's president Anura Kumara Dissanayake

Sri Lanka posts five per cent GDP growth as it ends years of economic decline

CASH-STRAPPED Sri Lanka’s economy grew by five per cent in 2024, marking the first full year of expansion since its unprecedented meltdown in 2022, official data showed last Tuesday (18).

The last quarter of 2024 saw the economy expand by 5.4 per cent, bringing the full calendar year’s GDP growth to five per cent, compared to a contraction of 2.3 per cent in 2023.

Keep ReadingShow less
Donald Trump

Speaking from the Oval Office, Trump said, 'What we’re going to be doing is a 25 per cent tariff on all cars that are not made in the US.'

Getty Images

Trump imposes 25 per cent tariffs on foreign-built cars

US president Donald Trump has announced a 25 per cent tariff on imported cars and auto parts, escalating trade tensions with key partners.

The new duties take effect on 3 April and apply to foreign-made cars and light trucks, with additional levies on key auto parts set to follow within the month.

Keep ReadingShow less
Starmer-Trump-Getty

The UK is negotiating a tech-focused trade deal with the US, which could help avoid direct tariff impacts.

Getty Images

UK economy faces pressure from Trump’s tariff threats

THE UK’s economy faces a major risk from US president Donald Trump’s proposed tariffs, the country’s fiscal watchdog warned on Wednesday, citing slow growth and a high debt burden as key vulnerabilities.

Chancellor Rachel Reeves announced cuts to the welfare budget and other spending reductions to meet a key fiscal target aimed at reassuring investors after the 2022 market turmoil under former prime minister Liz Truss.

Keep ReadingShow less