PNB’s stock dips by 10% after bank detects fraud of over Rs 11300 crore
Punjab National Bank share price slipped 9.7 percent intraday on Wednesday after the bank detected some fraudulent transactions worth Rs 11,300 crore in its Mumbai branch. The fraudulent transaction amount is close to 1/3rd of its total market capitalisation of Rs 36,000 crore and 2.55 percent of total loan book of Rs 4.5 lakh crore (as of December 2017).
Last week, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had booked billionaire jeweller Modi, his wife, brother and partners for allegedly cheating PNB of Rs280.7 crore, following a complaint by the lender that alleged that these people conspired with some of its own officials, causing the bank “wrongful loss”.
However, the quantum of the fraud is much bigger than initially assessed by the bank.
“The Bank has detected some fraudulent and unauthorised transactions (messages) in one of its branch in Mumbai for the benefit of a few select account holders with their apparent connivance. Based on these transactions other banks appear to have advanced money to these customers abroad,” PNB said in the stock exchange filing.
It further said in the bank, these transactions are contingent in nature and liability arising out of these on the bank shall be decided based on the law and genuineness of underlying transactions. The quantum of transactions is USD 1,771.69 million (approximately).
“The matter was already referred to law enforcement agencies to examine and book the culprits as per law of the land. The bank is committed to clean and transparent banking,” PNB said.
