INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
sector lender Oriental Bank of Commerce (OBC) has come clean on its loan exposure to the absconding diamantaires Nirav Modi and his uncle
Choksi, here on Friday.The development comes ahead of the OBC's upcoming merger with the Punjab National Bank (PNB) which - in February
2018 - had admitted to a massive fraud perpetrated by Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi running into over Rs 13,500 crore, sending the entire
banking industry in a spin.The Oriental Bank has now issued notices declaring the duo and their companies as 'Willful Defaulters' for
varying loan amounts, totaling to around Rs 289 crore, at their large corporate branch, Cuffe Parade in Mumbai.Nirav Modi's companies
Firestar International Pvt
and Fire Star Diamond International Pvt
failed to repay the Oriental Bank's loans of Rs 60.41 crore and Rs 32.25 crore, respectively.Similarly, Mehul Choksi's companies
have defaulted on OBC's loans worth a total of Rs 136.45 crore and Rs 59.53 crore, respectively.Days after the scam erupted in February
2018 and it dawned that Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi, along with other accused family members, had sneaked out of the country, the OBC
promptly declared their accounts as 'NPAs' on March 21, 2018.Furthermore, the OBC has warned the masses to desist from entering any kind of
deals with the (aforementioned) and appealed to the people to provide information of assets of Nirav Modi-Choksi or their transactions to
enable the bank recover the 'public money' due from them.Banking circles question why it took the OBC a long period nearly 18 months to
cough out is exposure in the matter, and just before its proposed merger with the PNB, along with United Bank of India, announced last month
by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman."Besides OBC, other banks also have exposure to Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi, and their group
What prevents them all from coming together and take necessary legal action to recover their dues," banking expert and Maharashtra Trade
Unions Joint Action Committee (TUJAC) Convenor Vishwas Utagi told IANS.Utagi said the other bigger questions are: what action has been taken
against the departments and officers dealing in foreign exchange in Reserve Bank of India and other affected banks, how much of the
outstandings from (Nirav Modi-Choksi and others) accused have been recovered so far and whether the details emerging now are aunder
pressure' before the upcoming mergers.Incidentally, in March this year, the OBC had got a life-saving dosage of Rs 1,186 crore capital
infusion and more is expected after the mergers are completed.Earlier this year, the State Bank of India (SBI) had first bared its chest on
a Rs 405 crore outstanding loan from Mehul Choksi and his family members.The SBI's disclosure came barely two days after it became public
that Mehul Choksi had surrendered his Indian citizenship in favour of the nationality of Antigua - Barbuda Islands, in West Indies.In March
this year, a relaxed and well-dressed Nirav Modi was seen sauntering down a street in London, sparking off a furore in India after which he
was arrested by the UK authorities.Currently, India is making all-out efforts for getting both the uncle-nephew extradited to India and face
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