Explainer: How Indian lender says it fell victim to country's biggest bank fraud

Gitanjali Gems

15/02/2018 11:32

By Devidutta Tripathy 
    MUMBAI, Feb 15 (Reuters) - India's Punjab National Bank 
 PNBK.NS , the second-biggest state-run lender, stunned the 
country's financial sector when it announced this week it had 
discovered fraudulent transactions worth $1.77 billion at a 
single branch in Mumbai. 
    The fraud, by far the biggest ever detected by an Indian 
bank, comes to light at a time when lenders - especially the 
state-run banks - are hobbled by $147 billion in soured loans on 
their books, a problem that has choked new lending and hurt the 
country's economic recovery. 
    Despite tight fiscal conditions, the government recently 
extended a $14 billion bailout to ailing state banks as part of 
a broader $32 billion rescue plan. The sector also faces higher 
capital requirements by next year to meet new global banking 
rules known as Basel III. 
    Following is an explainer on the PNB fraud and its 
implications for other lenders and India's banking sector:       
     
    WHAT IS THE FRAUD ALLEGATION ABOUT? 
    On Jan. 29, a PNB official from Mumbai filed a criminal 
complaint with India's federal investigative agency against 
three companies and four people, including billionaire jeweller 
Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi, the managing director of Gitanjali 
Gems Ltd  GTGM.NS , saying they had defrauded the bank and 
caused a loss of 2.8 billion rupees ($43.8 million). 
    The bank alleged two junior employees at the Mumbai branch 
had helped the companies and people managing them get "letters 
of undertaking" (LoUs) from it without having a sanctioned 
credit limit or maintaining funds "on margin". 
    The LOUs were used to obtain short-term credit from overseas 
branches of other Indian banks, PNB said.       
    Based on the complaint, the Central Bureau of Investigation 
(CBI) registered a preliminary case against the companies and 
the people named on Jan. 31 and PNB said a detailed probe was 
underway. 
    On Wednesday, PNB said in a regulatory filing it had 
discovered fraudulent and unauthorised transactions totalling 
$1.77 billion at the Mumbai branch. Investigators have said the 
latest disclosure was related to the earlier case filed. 
     
    HOW DID THE FRAUD COME TO LIGHT? 
    PNB says that on Jan. 16 the accused firms presented a set 
of import documents to the Mumbai branch and requested buyers' 
credit to pay overseas suppliers. Since they had no pre-arranged 
credit limit, the branch official asked the companies to put 
down the full amount as collateral so the bank could issue LOUs 
to authorise the credit. 
    When the firms argued that they had used such facilities in 
the past without keeping any money on margin, PNB scanned 
through records and found no trace of any transactions, 
according to the bank's account. 
    It then found that two junior employees had issued LOUs on 
the SWIFT interbank messaging system without entering the 
transactions on the bank's own system. Such transactions went on 
for years without detection, PNB said. 
    Banking sources have said in some banks the SWIFT system, 
which is used for international transactions, and the core 
banking system work independently of each other. In PNB's case, 
it said the outstanding LoUs were not available on its core 
banking system run on Infosys's  INFY.NS  Finacle software, thus 
the LoUs issued went undetected.      
     
    WHO ARE THE PEOPLE AND COMPANIES ACCUSED OF INVOLVEMENT AND 
WHAT HAVE THEY SAID? 
    PNB has accused three companies - Solar Exports, Stellar 
Diamonds and Diamond R US - it said belong to Nirav Modi, a 
high-end jeweller who runs his eponymous Nirav Modi stores that 
spread from New York to Hong Kong. Modi is worth $1.73 billion 
according to Forbes rankings. 
    Modi's companies colluded with the bank staff, PNB said, 
adding that it suspected some officials at foreign branches of 
other Indian banks that extended credit were also involved. 
    It also named Gitanjali Gems, Gili India and Nakshatra - 
companies promoted by another jeweller, Mehul Choksi, who is 
Modi's uncle. 
    Gitanjali last week denied Choksi had any involvement with 
the alleged fraud, saying he would take "necessary legal steps" 
to get his name removed from the CBI case.  
    Modi has not commented on the case. His flagship Firestar 
Diamond has said it had no involvement. 
    PNB said it has begun criminal action against two staff 
members and suspended some others. Reuters was not immediately 
able to contact the two staff members. 
       
    WHAT ARE THE AUTHORITIES DOING? 
    Federal investigators swung into action on Thursday, 
conducting searches at PNB branches and also at Nirav Modi's 
home and offices, local media said. 
    The finance ministry has issued an advisory to all banks to 
review their large customer exposures, according to media 
reports. The Enforcement Directorate, which investigates frauds 
involving foreign exchange transactions, was also conducting a 
probe, Mint newspaper said. 
     
    WHO ASSUMES THE LIABILITY?  
    PNB has said the transactions are "contingent" in nature, 
and it will decide on the liability based on the law and the 
genuineness of underlying transactions. 
    Banking sources have said several other banks who have 
extended loans based on the PNB LoUs that were later found to be 
fraudulent are at risk of losing money.  
    Some of the banks say PNB is liable to pay since it issued 
the LoUs, although PNB, in a Feb. 12 "caution notice" addressed 
to chief executives of 30 banks, including two foreign banks, 
said the other banks also have a share in the blame as they 
"overlooked" certain Indian central bank rules. 
    It also said none of the overseas branches of India-based 
banks had shared with PNB any documents or information at the 
time of extending buyers' credit to the companies. 
    PNB said Nirav Modi had written to the bank but had yet to 
offer any formal proposal for a repayment.     
 ($1 = 63.9200 Indian rupees) 
 
 (Reporting by Devidutta Tripathy; Editing by Alex Richardson) 
 ((devidutta.tripathy@thomsonreuters.com; +91 84518 40430; 
Reuters Messaging: 
devidutta.tripathy.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net)) 
 
Keywords: PUNJAB NATL BANK FRAUD/