Scam-hit Punjab National Bank received a ‘warning’ from SEBI for its tardiness in complying with various mandatory norms in the wake of the Nirav Modi fraud. SEBI pointed out that there was a delay of one-six days by PNB in disclosing to the exchange the compliance report that it had filed with the CBI and the RBI.

The report pertained to certain fraudulent transactions with respect to Nirav Modi group, Gitanjali group and others. However, the regulator has not specified any action it would be taking against PNB for the serious lapse. SEBI is of the view that PNB had failed to comply with its listing obligation and disclosure requirement regulations.

The lender was one to six days behind in disclosing details regarding a ₹280-crore fraud seen in its financial statement for the quarter ended December 2017, SEBI observed. “The aforesaid non-compliances are viewed seriously and PNB is hereby warned and advised to be cautious in future to ensure compliance with all applicable provisions of the SEBI LODR Regulations,” SEBI said in its notice to the bank.

SEBI’s warning comes after the government-owned lender reported the highest-ever quarterly loss in Indian banking history. PNB revealed in February that it was hit by a ₹14,000-crore fraud involving jeweller Nirav Modi and his uncle Mehul Choksi.

SEBI is further investigating various angles to the PNB-Nirav Modi scam, but has so far not taken any action except for the warning it issued on Thursday.

The Prime Minister’s office had recently asked SEBI to report on various aspects of the scam and also on how it failed to heed a ‘warning’ from one its own whole-time member S Raman, who had alerted the regulator in 2017 of the Gitanjali group and Choksi’s dealings in the stock market and asked for a ‘thorough’ investigation into the matter. The PNB scam had not come to light when Raman issued the order; government sources told BusinessLine that it is now being examined if there could be a link between the two cases.

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