National Stock Exchange of India, India’s largest securities trading platform, has sought details from Punjab National Bank on media reports regarding raids by enforcement agencies on the bank’s premises in the Nirav Modi case.
“The exchange has advised the company to provide clarification or confirmation on the news item (on the raids) in detail,” the NSE said in its letter to the state-owned bank.
Specifically, it sought to know whether such raids were taking place, and if so, urged PNB to detail “the sequence of events in chronological order” and specify the material impact that this may have on the bank.
The exchange noted that media reports have claimed that the Enforcement Directorate has conducted raids on the offices of Nirav Modi, PNB and Gitanjali Gems in regard to a Rs 11,300 cr scam.
The Bank, whose shares are traded on the NSE, is expected to offer clarifications in the afternoon.
The request for clarification by the exchange comes a day after the bank itself made a statement on fraudulent messages being sent on behalf of the bank to enable some customers to raise money overseas.
These messages, it said on Valentine’s Day, were fraudulent and unauthorized, and seemed to have been sent for “benefit of a few select account holders with their apparent connivance.”
The case, involving diamond merchant Nirav Modi, is being called the biggest case of fraud committed on any Indian bank in history.
In its statement on Wednesday, PNB said it was not sure whether it will be liable for the $1.77 bln that its customers have raised from other parties on the basis of the messages sent from one of its Mumbai branches.
“Based on these transactions (messages), other banks appear to have advanced money to these customers abroad,” PNB said in its statement on Wednesday.
“These transactions are contingent in nature and liability arising out of these on the Bank shall be decided based on the law and genuineness of underlying transactions. The quantum of such transactions is USD 1771.69 million,” PNB said on Wednesday.