The 124-year-old bank has in recent months reinstated most of 21 employees.New Delhi:The government has sacked two executives of state-run Punjab National Bank (PNB) for allegedly failing to prevent a $2 billion fraud, two sources said on Sunday, nearly a year after country's biggest bank scam came to light and also dragged government into controversy.The firing of two executive directors, whom CBI have accused of breaching Reserve Bank of India (RBI) guidelines, is first instance of sacking of bank's employees since it said that billionaire diamond jeweller Nirav Modi and his uncle had for years fraudulently raised billions of dollars in foreign credit by conspiring with staff at bank.Modi and his uncle Mehul Choksi, who left India before fraud was discovered, have denied accusations.In a stock exchange filing late on Friday, country's second-biggest state bank said government had removed K.
Veera Brahmaji Rao and Sanjiv Sharan "from office of executive director" with immediate effect.
The filing did not give a reason.The government then fired them because "they failed to use global payments network SWIFT to detect fraud", a bank source said.
The sources who had direct knowledge of matter and declined to be identified because reasons for sacking have not been made public."They were not able to supervise and there was dereliction of duty on their part," said one of sources, a government official.Phone calls to PNB Chief Executive Sunil Mehta as well as to Rao and Sharan went unanswered.The 124-year-old bank has in recent months reinstated most of 21 employees who were suspended immediately after scam became public because they were not charged by police.India has issued non-bailable warrants against both Modi and Choksi and Interpol red notices are out too.The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has seized assets worth millions of dollars of both jewellers.A senior ED investigator told Reuters late last year that they were confident both Modi and Choksi would be brought back to country "soon".
He said embassies in UK, where Modi is believed to be in, and one in Antigua, where Choksi is, were in constant touch with authorities with information about them."We know fear bells have started ringing there," said ED investigator, who declined to be named as he was not authorised to talk to reporters.
"We want them to be brought back to India before elections."A call to ED office went unanswered.