Chief minister Mamata Banerjee has written to Union finance minister Arun Jaitley that her opinion on the ill- effects of FRDI Bill has been ratified by the fraudulent transactions worth $1.8 billion in Punjab National Bank.

“My conviction has now been vindicated by the recent incident of massive banking fraud of over Rs 11,000 crore. Where is then the accountability of banks which is expected to protect the interest of common depositors? This development has raised doubt in the minds of the common people about safety of their deposits in the banking system. I would therefore request the Government of India to take a lesson from this,” read Miss Banerjee’s letter.

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Addressing a public meeting in Jhargram yesterday, Miss Banerjee had demanded a thorough investigation into the massive fraud.

This is Miss Banerjee’s second letter to the Finance Ministry opposing the Bill and demanding its withdrawal.

Miss Banerjee had first raised her objections in a letter on 16 December. In response, Mr Pon Radhakrishnan, Minister of State for finance and shipping had written on 12 January that the bill is in the interest of the depositors as it will provide additional protection to the depositors.

Mr Radhakrishnan had further argued that the bail-in has been proposed as one of the resolution tools in the event of financial distress in any financial institution.

Countering the Union minister’s letter, Miss Banerjee has written that instead of protecting the interest of the depositors the bill aims at doing the opposite. The “draconian” provision of bail-in has the “potential of endangering the hard-earned deposits of the public” as well as “bail out one section of the vested interest who have siphoned off the loans given to them by the banking institutions.”

Reiterating her reasons for opposing the bill, Miss Banerjee said that the bill can forcibly convert the deposits of common people into equity shares, can change the nature of deposits from one class to another, can impose a stay on depositors right to withdraw deposits and can put a moratorium on payment of interest or repayment on deposits on maturity.

Earlier during the day, Miss Banerjee tweeted: “Those who have Kisan Credit Cards and are entitled to loans are being denied loans. And yet some VIP bank customers are looting this country. The self-help groups, those who run small businesses, and other commoners, are deprived of loans. And yet, special people are being given thousands of crores of rupees. Why this fraud? Why this fraud?”