Below the Line: Fraudsters tap World Bank

With growing emphasis on digital transaction and increasing trend of online sales, credit/debit cards have become new tools for fraudsters. And they have not spared the World Bank either! Yes, you have heard it right. There are tele-callers offering credit/debit cards issued by the World Bank.

The situation has become so alarming that the World Bank had to issue an advisory about fraudulent issuance of debit/credit cards in India, carrying its name and logo. The World Bank Group does not issue debit/credit cards, the institution had to reiterate. The Bank has no involvement with individuals/groups who have issued these fake cards and would like to caution the public to be wary of such fraudulent practices. Need to reiterate that World Bank has the word Bank attached to it but it does not work like SBI or HDFC Bank.

What happens when one withdraws a public interest litigation filed in a court? In the normal course, the case would become non-existent. But not always, as realised by one Santhosh Gupta who filed a plea recently in the National Green Tribunal pleading for banning firecrackers in the National Capital Region. Gupta decided to withdraw from the case as the NGO he sought to represent through a petition made it publicly known that it was not party to it for reasons not known.

The Tribunal allowed him to withdraw from the case, but decided to go ahead with the case through its own on motion. As a result, notice was issued to 20-odd States. Since then, many States decided to ban the sale and use of crackers during the ongoing festival season.

Central investigative agencies such as the CBI and the ED have been busy tracking multiple cases involving the high and mighty of the CPI (M)-led Left Democratic Front government in Kerala led by Pinarayi Vijayan. And the nature of cases range from money laundering and amassing of wealth disproportionate to known sources of income, to peddling of ill-gotten money with smugglers with likely ramifications for the economic security of the country. And the names of those being implicated read like a Who's Who of the administrative and political landscape of the State — ex-Principal Secretary to the Chief Minister; a few other officials in the top echelons in the State government; and now, in one fell swoop, a celebrity son of Kodiyeri Balakrishnan, CPI(M) State Secretary.

The ‘party’ is far from over (pun intended), CPI(M) activists vouch, and are prompt to see not just red but a ‘method in the madness’ being let loose by the Centre ahead of elections to the local bodies in the State in December, followed by those to the State Assembly early next year.

Former RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan did not mince words recently when he was asked about the Aatmanirbhar Bharat package. “I don't know what it is. I believe it is creation of the same theme of having a better environment for business.”

He also underscored the need to “fix” the financial system in India. “It’s pathetic at 50 per cent credit to GDP, we (India) still don’t have a healthy financial system. We are failing both in quality and quantity... We should actually have a steady process of reforming the financial sector and need to limit the role of the Government in an effective way,” he said.

Rajan’s point is well taken, but it may go against his recent suggestion in an article (with Viral Acharya) that the country may be better off if the Department of Financial Services were closed down, a banker quipped. How you may wonder? After all, you may still need a the DFS to pursue and implement the reforms that Rajan is talking about. The central issue is how do we keep banks away from government. Difficult ask this in the current pandemic times, say banking industry observers.

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