YES: That is the name of the bank promoted by Rana Kapoor which is virtually bankrupt with the RBI placing the ceiling of `25,000 on withdrawals from Yes banks. While Rana has been arrested his three daughters have not been allowed to leave the country

By Rajan Narayan

The looting of public sector and private sector banks did not start with Yes Bank or even the swindling of PNB bank by the Modis. It goes back to the Bofors scam when allegedly commissions were given by Bofors to the agents of Sonia and Rajeev Gandhi. Huge amounts of money are alleged to have been lent to companies which did not have the assets to pay back even the principle, leave alone the interest…..

THE looting of both public sector and private sector banks has accelerated since Narendra Modi came to power in 2014. The CAT came out of the bank when it was revealed that Nirav Modi had looted more than ` 11,400 crore from the Punjab National Bank. The modus operandi was simple. Exporters are allowed letters of credit to foreign banks abroad for buying raw materials. Between the managers of the PNB and the many companies of Nirav Modi they fabricated letters of credit. Which were not backed by any assets or even insurance that the amount will be honored. Nirav’s proximity to Modi and his confidence that his friends will protect him was dramatized by the fact that he had a mega party in Mumbai the day before the scam was found out. He has taken refuge in the UK where the laws on financial fraud are very strict.

nirav bail rejected

The UK courts have for the sixth time rejected Nirav Modi’s plea for bail. The UK courts have been equally strict with Vijay Mallya who owes a consortium of Indian banks led by State Bank of India over 15,000 crore. Permission has been granted to sell the assets of both Nirav Modi and Vijay Mallya. The latest financial scam is the Yes Banks scam. The Yes bank promoted by Rana Kapoor is not a small co-operative bank. It is a large private limited bank which attracted even the Japanese. The bank has collapsed because it lend money to Narendra Modi’s friends like Anil Ambani whose group of companies owe55,000 crore, Institute for the Advanced American Legal System IAALS has collapsed owing over 35,000 crore. Vodaphone which according to the Telephone Regulatory Authority of India has to pay35,000 crore and the favourite television channel of Narendra Modi, Zee TV, whose parent company SL World owes 800 crore. None of this loans are likely to be paid back. In fact, in the case of SL World it has been granted indefinite extra time to pay back800 crore. It is not a co-incident that Shubhash Chandra, who owns Zee TV, is the president of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad.

co-op banks looted

THE public sector banks are increasingly becoming the co-operative banks. The co-operative banks are financial organisations found by groups of buddies. In a large number of cases co-operative banks are floated by politicians. They secure large deposits by offering higher rates of interest. The money collected is distributed amongst directors and promoters, they neither return the principle amount borrowed or the interest. So much so they sink deeply into debt.
In the case of Goa the Reserve Bank from time to time has banned depositors from withdrawing more than `10,000 from the bank. This has caused great hardship to salary earners whose wages used to be deposited in the bank. The other co-operative bank in Goa like the Margao Co-operative bank and the Apex State Co-operative bank have gone the same way. Not that scams among co-operative banks is limited to Goa. Recently, the Punjab and Maharashtra Co-operative bank promoted by an industrialist closed down with several lakh of depositors losing their hard earned savings.

co-op action replay

What was happening to the co-operative banks is now happening to the public sector nationalised banks. They generously lended money to people like Anil Ambani, Gautum Adani and the kith and kin of senior BJP leaders like Amit Shah, namely his son Jay Shah. The story appeared in The Wire which was sued by Jay Shah for `1,000 crore. Unfortunately for Jay the courts threw out the defamation suits.
This kind of sharing the deposits of public sector banks is not confined to the BJP. Robert Vadra, husband of Priyanka Gandhi, has been accused of scams relating to the DFL housing complex in Gurgaon. The biggest scam involving politicians was of course the Bofors scam. A leading Indian lawyer based in London admitted that he received a million pounds from Amitabh Bachchan. He did not clarify whether the money came from Amitabh Bachchan or if he was only the conduit. The suspicion was that the money was sent by Sonia and Rajeev Gandhi. The prime accused in the Bofors scam in which both the then prime minister of India and Sweden were allegedly bribed by the Bofors company and close associate Ottavio Quattrocchi was allowed to leave India. Even though his passport has been suspended.

GOVT COLLUSION

There has always been a nexus between the government in power and nationalised banks. When Narendra Modi went to France to finalize the multi-billion dollar Rafael aircraft deal he was accompanied by Anil Ambani. The State Bank of India was directed to give Anil Ambani a loan of over `10,000 crore to set up a defence factory for transfer and technology to build Rafael aircraft as well as maintenance and repair of the aircraft. The SBI backed out though the company continues to access on paper. Big business close to the government borrow large amounts of money going into several hundreds and thousands of crore.
The money is not returned but additional loans are given to repay the first loan! So the cycle goes on till the principle and interest reaches huge amounts. As in the case of farmers whose debts are waived, the big industrial units are also forgiven their interest and sometimes part of the principle. All they have to do is to declare themselves bankrupt. There was a time a decade ago when Anil Ambani was richer than Mukesh Ambani. This wealth is calculated not in the basis of assets but on their market value of their shares. Recently, Anil Ambani declared himself bankrupt in a British court.