Scamsters conveniently leave India under PM Modi govt, says Prakash Karat

Former CPI(M) general secretary Prakash Karat has alleged that it has become an established pattern for scamsters to "conveniently leave" the country under the Narendra Modi led government.

In his editorial in the latest issue of the 'Peoples' Democracy', he has termed the PNB scam the "most brazen and shocking" case of defrauding in the history of Indian banking.

"As is the pattern established under the Modi government, Nirav Modi, his uncle Mehul Choksi and family members conveniently left the country in the first week of January, before the CBI was called in to investigate the criminal wrongdoing. The same had happened in the case of Lalit Modi and Vijay Mallya." Karat has alleged.

He also alleged that "certain BJP leaders" were close to Nirav Modi and Choksi.

Karat attacked the prime minister saying the claims of Modi government of a corruption-free regime is now in "tatters" with the Nirav Modi scandal coming soon after the "murky" Rafale fighter jet deal.

"Crony capitalism and the nexus with corrupt politicians is at the root of the non-performing assets and the banking crisis in the country," Karat has said.

Stating that the PNB scam has wider ramifications, he claimed that there were 8,670 cases of loan fraud totalling Rs 612.6 billion in the past five years ending March 31, 2017, as per data from an RTI query.

Giving his opinion on the recent financial scam, the Left leader has emphasised that the scam shows the severe implications of liberalisation and deregulation of the banking sector and the instructions to banks to pursue profit by any means.

Karat has argued that instead of holding liberalisation policies squarely responsible for the scams of the PNB type, spokespersons for neoliberal policies have predictably come out attacking bank nationalisation and PSBs.