Nearly a year before the Rs 12,700 crore scam at Punjab National Bank (PNB) involving diamond merchant Nirav Modi broke out, the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) had sounded an alarm over the irregularities in the gems and jewellery sector.
The CVC 2017 annual report said the commission held a meeting on 5 January 2017 with the brass of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), Enforcement Directorate (ED) and chief vigilance officers of 10 banks, including PNB, to highlight some jewellery firms’ irregularities, The Times of India reported.
TOI added that the CVC meeting was called to particularly discuss fraud committed with banks by Jatin Mehta of the Winsome Group.
Mehta reportedly fled India after taking Rs 6,200 crore loans in which PNB had an exposure of Rs 1,658 crore.
The English daily further reported that the CVC advised the Reserve Bank of India and the department of financial services, which comes under the Finance Ministry, to issue an advisory to banks to ensure control over forex remittances purportedly for the purpose of imports.
The CVC report, accessed by TOI, said it had been dealing with issues related to the core banking system, which was not updated by PNB officials in the case of loans given to Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi.
On Sunday, a special CBI court in Mumbai had issued non-bailable warrants (NBW) against Modi and his uncle, Mehul Choksi.
Earlier in the day, reports suggested that Modi is likely to be in Hong Kong.
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