Bank Frauds: ED Registered 515 Cases, Attached Properties worth Rs47,099 Crore since 2014
Moneylife Digital Team 08 August 2022
The directorate of enforcement (ED) has recorded around 515 cases of bank fraud in public and private sector banks, under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), from 2014 to 2022. Further, it has attached properties worth Rs47,099 crore in bank fraud cases and has filed prosecution complaints before the special courts in 115 cases, the Lok Sabha was informed.
 
In a written reply, the minister of state for finance says, "...out of the aforementioned 515 cases, 137 cases pertain to the bank frauds, wherein amount involved is more than Rs100 crore in each case. In certain cases of loan fugitives, ED has also attached assets worth Rs19,312 crore, up to 29 July 2022, under the provisions of PMLA, which is 85.50% of the defrauded amount of Rs22,586 crore in these cases."
 
However, the minister declined to reveal borrower-wise credit information, citing provisions of Section 45E of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Act.
 
According to the information shared by the government, gross NPAs (non-performing assets) of big borrowers, with an outstanding of Rs100 crore and above, during the past nine years up to  FY21-22 is Rs31.75 lakh crore. Gross NPAs of public sector banks (PSBs) are Rs25.91 lakh crore, while for private sector banks they are Rs5.84 lakh crore (see table below).
 
 
The aggregate amount involved in frauds in respect of the top-100 accounts in public and private sector banks comes to Rs2.91 lakh crore. As expected, the amount of frauds in PSBs is Rs2.13 lakh crore, while for private banks, it is Rs77,645 crore, data shared by the minister shows (see table below).
 
Ritesh Pandey, a member of Parliament (MP), has asked for details of top companies which have taken loans fraudulently from public and private sector banks during 2014-22 and companies that have taken a loan of Rs100 crore and more, which have become NPAs after 2014. He also wanted to know if the central bureau of investigation (CBI) had taken any action to recover the bad loans from these companies. 
 
In his reply, the minister clarified that recovery of loans is not within the purview of CBI. "As per RBI data, public and private sector banks have recovered Rs8.39 lakh crore during the financial years 2014-15 to 2021-22 in NPA accounts, including those reported as frauds," he added.
 
Comments
saharaaj
10 months ago
Good optics of number .. it seems 2014 is bench mark of reforms
angelo.extross
10 months ago
The Hon'ble Minister of State for Finance has declined to reveal the borrow-wise credit information of "large" loan fugitives, citing Sec. 45E of the RBI. Is the same section not appliable to "small" loan defaulters - their notices with Photographs are published in newspapers. Why this double standard"? Who benefits?
The Hon'ble Minister of State for Finance further clarified that the recovery of loans is not within the preview of CBI. He should have given a complete clarification and named the agency under whose preview recovery of loans falls.
sha79
10 months ago
How does the directorate of enforcement (ED) handle the properties after they are confiscated? Do they auction it off? While there are a lot of good actions taken by the ED, I hope more is done to rein in the borrowers who are in the NPA category.
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