Govt empowers PSU banks to seek lookout circulars against wilful defaulters
PrintListen to this Article
The Home Ministry has also authorised the Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO), a statutory corporate fraud investigation agency, to request LOCs if it feels the suspect may escape from India.
The ministry issued two circulars recently, authorising chairman-cum-managing directors or chief executive officers of public sector banks and the SFIO to request designated authorities to issue LOCs against any wilful defaulter or fraudster if they think the person may flee the country.
The CMDs and CEOs of PSU banks can now ask the Home Ministry, Ministry of External Affairs, Customs and Income Tax Departments, Directorate of Revenue Intelligence, CBI, regional passport officers and police to issue an LOC to alert immigration check posts to stop anyone leaving India, a home ministry official said.
The SFIO and PSU banks can initiate the process if they suspect that the defaulter may leave the country to escape the law, the official said.
Earlier, investigating agencies would request LOCs in cognisable offences under the IPC or other laws in case the accused evaded arrest or did not appear before court despite issuance of non-bailable warrants and other coercive measures and there was a likelihood of the accused leaving the country to escape arrest.
An LOC is valid for a year unless its duration is specified.
The government's fresh move came after three high-profile escapes involving liquor baron Vijay Mallya and diamantaires Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi rocked the country, inviting embarrassment for the government.
Mallya left India on March 2, 2016 after defaulting on loan amounting to Rs 9,000 crore he had taken for his now-defunct Kingfisher Airlines.
Jewellery designer Modi and his uncle Choksi, managing director of Gitanjali Gems Ltd, fled the country in January 2018. They are accused of cheating the state-run Punjab National Bank to the tune of Rs 13,000 crore.
The government had last year brought the Fugitive Economic Offenders Act, empowering the authorities to attach and confiscate the proceeds of crime and properties of economic offenders, like bank fraudsters or loan defaulters who fled the country. #casansaar (Source - MoneyControl)
Category : Banking | Comments : 0 | Hits : 514
The Financial Intelligence Unit-India (FIU-IND), in furtherance of the powers conferred upon the Director FIU-IND under Section 13(2)(d) of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002, has imposed a monetary penalty of Rs. 5,49,00,000 (rupees five crore forty nine lakh) on Paytm Payments Bank Ltd with reference to the violations of its obligations under the PMLA read with the Prevention of Money Laundering (Maintenance of Records) Rules, 2005 (PML Rules) issued thereunder and applicable ...
The government on Monday informed the Lok Sabha that all Scheduled Commercial Banks have written off nearly Rs 10.6 lakh crore in the last 5 years, out of which nearly 50 per cent belong to large industrial houses. It also said that nearly 2300 borrowers, each having a loan amount of Rs 5 crore or more, wilfully defaulted around Rs 2 lakh crore. As per the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) guidelines and policy approved by bank boards, NPAs, including those in respect of which full provisioning has...
The government has cleared the extension of tenure of managing directors of two public sector lenders -- Bank of Maharashtra (BoM) and Central Bank of India. According to sources, Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) has approved extension of term of office of A S Rajeev, MD and CEO of BoM, for six months till his superannuation. Besides, sources said, ACC has extended the term of M V Rao, MD and CEO of Central Bank of India, till July 31, 2025.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has started probe into the multi-crore banking fraud in which a former Punjab National Bank (PNB) employee, M.P. Rijil, allegedly swindled ?21 crore from multiple bank accounts, including the eight accounts maintained by the Kozhikode Corporation. The case is being investigated by the Kochi unit of the CBI in compliance with an earlier order issued by the Kerala High Court. The case, which was initially investigated by the Kozhikode Town poli...
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Saturday arrested two promoters of a Chandigarh-based pharma company, who are also the co-founders of the Sonepat-based Ashoka University, and a chartered accountant in a money-laundering probe linked to an alleged bank fraud. Official sources said the central agency also continued with its searches against the group for the second day, including at the Ashoka University's corporate and registered offices in Delhi and campus in Sonepat. Parabolic Dru...
Comments