Prime Minister Narendra Modi was informed about the scam in PNB worth thousands of crores of rupees as early as on 26 July 2016, when the whistle-blower SV Hari Prasad made a desperate plea to the PMO to intervene.
Hari Prasad asked the Prime Minister’s Office to make urgent intervention ‘before it becomes too late and the accused flee from the country like Vijay Malaya of Kingfisher group. (sic)’ His complaint was primarily about the financial shenanigans of Mehul Choksi of Geetanjali Jems Limited and his associates. Choksi, who is Nirav Modi’s uncle, too fled the country in Janurary as reported by Janta Ka Reporter.
In his complaint, Hari Prasad further wrote, “This company is involved in siphoning out of Rs 1000s of crores of Indian public money through various subsidiary companies floated in India and fictitious companies abroad. All details are attached in the pdf enclosed. Kindly
look into this and do needful before it is too late and he will escape from country like that of Mr Vijay Mallya of Kingfisher group. (sic)”
He further wrote, “List of 31 Banks extending Loans to this group.(Pls refer to the Page-4) This company has taken huge loans to the tune of almost Rs 9872.0 crores with meagre
assets of just Rs 25-30 Crores and definitely going to become NPA soon. Someone need to investigate the credit report of this group with these banks.” (You can read the entire complaint below.)
The question may be asked as to why the PMO was so apathetic despite it being made of the scam of this magnitude. Choksi, not many would remember, was suspended from trading in 2013 by market regulator Sebi as part of a probe into suspected market manipulations.