New Delhi
The Congress on Monday ridiculed the Modi government for taking no action on Rs5 trillion bank frauds in the past seven years while fooling the public with the talk of $5 trillion economy.
Party spokesman Gourav Vallabh told a video conference in Delhi the frauds committed on the banks in the past seven years are compiled by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in its latest annual report for 2020-21 that shows the bank frauds have increased year-on-year since Modi came to power in 2014.
There were 4,637 frauds involving Rs19,455 crore in 2014-15 that rose to 4,693 in 2015-16, 5,076 in 2016-17, 5,916 in 2017-18, 6,798 in 2018-19, 8,703 in 2019-20 and 7,363 in 2020-21. The RBI document shows the amount involved in the frauds peaked at Rs1,85,468 crore in 2019-20 and Rs1,38,422 crore in 2020-21. Totalling these amounts come to Rs4,98,672 crore, just little less than Rs5 trillion.
Prof Gourav Vallabh said the bank fraudsters functioned and prospered under the Modi rule, weakening the banking system. Quoting the RBI on the average time lag of 23 months in the occurrence and detection of the frauds, he said the frauds identified in the fiscal year 2020-21 were committed sometime in 2018-19. He said the drop in the amount of frauds in 2020-21 should be seen in the light of the loan restructuring initiatives and moratorium and despite that the frauds total up to Rs1,38,422 crore.
He posed three question to the Modi government:
n Why the government failed to curb the bank frauds in the last seven years?
n What is the government doing to recover the amount involved in these frauds? and
n How much amount has been collected from the fraudsters who are weakening our banking system?
The professor said the Modi government should be blamed for weakening the banking system by allowing the fraudsters to either continue functioning in India or leave the country without making any efforts to recover the fraud amounts. It has also not provided enough capital support to the banks.
On behalf of the Congress, he urged the Modi government to handle these fraudsters with an iron fist and ensure the entire amount, that belongs to India, be recovered as soon as possible.
‘Govt’s Covid mishandling made 97% Indians poorer’
As the country is battling the second Covid-19 wave, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Monday slammed the BJP-led NDA government at the Centre for the mismangement in tackling the pandemic and said 97% Indians have witnessed depreciation in their income due to the arrogance of the Central leadership.
He said the various mutants of coronavirus is the second reason for the economic devastation. The Congress leader shared a report that stated lockdowns imposed across the country has left 97% of Indians poorer. “One man and his arrogance + one virus and its mutants,” he tweeted.
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