BJP blames banking system for PNB fraud case

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Friday blamed the banking system for the 1.77 billion dollars scam detected by Punjab National Bank (PNB), while saying that the Centre is making efforts to recover the amount from the accused.

Billionaire jeweller Nirav Modi is the main accused in the case.

Addressing media here, Union Minister and BJP leader Prakash Javadekar said that the scam happened during the UPA tenure in 2011.

"It is the alertness of the NDA government which has brought this scam into the light. All the NPAs, the wrongful distribution of loans, amongst others were all passed down to us by the UPA Government. This is a scam by the bank and not by the government," Javadekar said.

"This is a banking fraud, which is being investigated. We are making sure that the money is recovered," he added.

A political blame game broke out after the PNB detected the scam, in which jeweller Nirav Modi acquired fraudulent letters of undertaking from one of its branches for overseas credit from other Indian lenders.

The scam was started in 2011 and was detected in the third week of January this year, after which the PNB officials reported the matter to concerned probe agencies.

The Congress, however, alleged that the government did nothing to stop "independent India's biggest bank fraud" despite being informed of it in July, 2016.

The party also released a picture of Nirav Modi with Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the World Economic Forum meet in Davos, held last month.