Gold Silver Reports (GSR) – RBI Initiates Special Audit Of State-Run Lenders With Focus On Trade Finance – Rattled by spate of banking frauds, RBI has initiated specialaudit of state-owned lenders withfocus on trade financingactivities, especially relating to issuance of letters of undertakings (LoUs) by them, banking sources said.
In addition, the RBI has asked all banks for details of the LoUs they had written, including the amounts outstanding, and whether the banks had preapproved credit limits or kept enough cash on margin before issuing the guarantees.
Most of the big banking frauds which were unearthed in the recent past, including the one allegedly perpetuated by diamantaire Nirav-Modi and his associates, pertain to trade finance. Also, many of the willful defaultcases have their roots in trade finance, the sources told PTI.
In view of the recent Rs 12,646-crore PNB scam, done through fraudulent issuance of LoUs by connivance of the bank’s staff, it was pertinent for the regulator RBI to examine the issue of trade finance which also includedissuance of letter of credit (LC) and LoUs, sources said.
Soon after the Nirav Modi case came to light, the CBI registered a case against a Delhibased diamond jewellery exporter Dwarka Das SethInternational for an alleged bank loan fraud to the tune of Rs 389.85 crore towards Oriental-Bank of Commerce (OBC).
Dwarka Das Seth International availed various credit facilities from OBC between 2007-12.
Also, in the Bank of Baroda-fraud case of 2015, two Delhi-based businessmen cheated it of Rs 6,000 crore by using the trade finance mechanism.
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Investigations in the BoB fraud case revealed major irregularities relating to tradefinance as several forex transactions were done mainly via advance remittances for import, through newly-opened current accounts. Heavy cash transactions — sometimes four or five times a day — were also noticed.
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Besides, the government on its part recently asked the state-owned banks to scrutinize all cases of nonperforming assets (NPAs) exceeding Rs 50 crore for possible fraud and report the matter to the CentralBureau of Investigation (CBI). — Neal Bhai Reports (NBR)
