Criticising the Centre over the alleged fraud at Punjab National Bank (PNB), West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee said, “If you keep money in banks, it will be taken away.
If you dig deeper, you will find out that not only PNB, but many other banks are being looted. Who is giving them (fraudsters) protection ~ the Central government has to answer”.
Alleging that the “big bank fraud” was being planned “from the time of demonetisation”, Miss Banerjee said, “What was the Central government doing all these days? Instead of giving speeches on television channels, they should take proper action on the matter.”
The BJP-led NDA government had demonetised the old Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 currency notes on 8 November, 2016 to curb circulation of black money.
Criticising the Centre over the proposed Financial Resolution and Deposit Insurance (FRDI) Bill, Miss Banerjee said that with the help of it, the BJP-led government would take away the depositors’ money to bail out banks which were suffering due to huge debts taken by big business houses.
Meanwhile, ED officials on Monday conducted raids at four locations of Mehul Choksi’s showrooms. Though the ED officials are tight-lipped on what has been recovered in the searches, sources said many valuables have so far been recovered. The source, however, has declined to quantify the amount.
Source said the ED officers in four groups had fanned out at different locations to unearth any fishy dealings.
Yesterday, the ED had seized valuables worth Rs7 crore. On Monday, the ED conducted raids at Acropolis Mall, Salt Lake City Centre, Elgin Road Shopping Mall and New Town City Centre 2.