Mumbai: CBI director Anil Sinha Wednesday gave an earful to chiefs of top banks and financial institutions for the crises and scams plaguing the country’s banking and financial sectors, lashing out in particular against lenders for not coming forward with a complaint in the Kingfisher Airlines “fraud”, saying the delay helped the company “divert funds and destroy evidence”.
In a no-holds barred speech in the presence of Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis, the CBI chief said the crisis in the banking and financial system ‘runs deep’.
He said there was growing anguish among the public that while banks were strict on small/retail borrowers, big borrowers and those who committed fraud on a large scale not only escaped the law but enjoyed fruits of their crimes.
“Something is seriously wrong. While bank loan defaults can happen due to business risk and reasons beyond the control of banks, borrowers and regulators, yet a significant part of the defaults are wilful and fraudulent.
“The message to the public is that the rich and powerful are able to avoid consequences of cheating and fraud, while the ordinary citizens are promptly booked. This undermines people’s faith in rule of law, which has dangerous consequences in a democracy,” Sinha said at a bankers’ conference.
Quoting statistics, he said the gross NPAs of public sector banks shot up from `44,957 crore in 2009 to Rs 300,000 crore in 2015. Agencies