Market regulator SEBI on Thursday warned the Punjab National Bank (PNB) over late disclosures made in the matter related to the Nirav Modi Group, Gitanjali Group and others and advised the PSU bank to be cautious in future. “There are delays of 1-6 days by PNB in making disclosures to the stock exchanges pertaining to filing of the reports or complaints with RBI and CBI,” The Securities and Exchange Board of India said in a letter to PNB.
The market regulator said that PNB has not PNB has not made any provision or disclosure with respect to the fraud of Rs 280 crore in the financial statements for the quarter ended December 2017 and thereby not complied with a necessary clause.
These non-compliances are “viewed seriously and PNB is hereby warned and advised” to be cautious in future to ensure compliance with all applicable provisions of the SEBI LODR Regulations, SEBI said.
A charge sheet filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation said that top honchos at the bank “misrepresented” the factual position on letters of understanding (LoUs) to the RBI and ignored its warnings when credit facilities worth over $2 billion were fraudulently cleared by its branch in Mumbai.
Usha Ananthasubramanian, who was the CMD of Punjab National Bank till May 2017, and her top officials also failed to prevent the fraud despite having knowledge of the modus operandi, PTI quoting sources had reported. Following the development, Allahabad Bank Board divested its MD and CEO Usha Ananthasubramanian of all powers with immediate effect. PNB, too, divested its two executive directors of all powers.
