millenniumpost.in RNI NO.: WBENG/2015/65962 PUBLISHED FROM DELHI & KOLKATA VOL. 4, ISSUE 49 | Monday, 19 February 2018 | Kolkata | Pages 16 | Rs 3.00 NO HALF TRUTHS SHIBPUR IIEST 76% POLLING TRUMP TURNS ‘HAVEN’T GOT THE STUDENT KILLED, IN TRIPURA ON FBI AFTER OPPORTUNITY THREE OTHERS ASSEMBLY CRITICISM FROM TO PROVE MY INJURED PG4 POLLS PG5 SURVIVORS PG10 CAPABILITY’ PG16 Plane crashes in Iran MAMATA CALLS FOR PROBE INTO THE MULTI-CRORE FRAUD CASE 200 shell firms under ED, killing all 66 aboard TEHRAN: An Iranian passenger plane on a PNB not only bank domestic flight crashed into the country’s Zagros I-T department scanner mountains on Sunday killing all 66 people on board, officials said. MPOST BUREAU The Aseman Airlines flight left Tehran’s Meh- rabad airport around 0800 for the city of Yasuj involved in scam: CM NEW DELHI: At least 200 in Isfahan province, said Mohammad Tabatabai, shell firms and “benami” director of public relations for the airline. assets have come under the The plane crashed into Dena mountain, part OUR CORRESPONDENT scanner of the investigative of the Zagros range, around 23 kilometres from agencies that are probing the Yasuj, some 500 kilometres south of the capital, KOLKATA: Demanding a probe Rs 11,400-crore alleged fraud he told state broadcaster IRIB. into the recently unearthed Punjab at the Punjab National Bank “After searches in the area, unfortunately, we National Bank (PNB) fraud case, (PNB), involving diamond were informed that the plane crashed. Unfortu- Bengal Chief Minister Mamata czar Nirav Modi, his relative nately, all our dear ones lost their lives in this Banerjee alleged that other banks are and business partner Mehul incident,” said Tabatabai. also involved in the scam. Choksi and others. The plane was carrying 60 passengers, Asserting that the PNB scam had The Enforcement Direc- including one child, as well as six crew, he added. taken place during demonetisation, torate (ED), which contin- It is suspected that the recently came to light, follow- A helicopter sent by Iran’s national emer- she claimed that the fraud involving ued its searches against Modi, shell firms were being used ing a complaint by the PNB, gency services was unable to land at the site of billionaire jewellery designer Nirav Choksi and their companies by the accused to launder that they allegedly cheated the the accident due to severe weather, its spokes- Modi, was only a fraction of a mam- for the fourth day on Sun- money and create “benami” nationalised bank to the tune man said. moth fraud in several Indian banks. day, is also moving to attach assets in the form of land, gold of Rs 11,400 crore, with the The Relief and Rescue Organisation of Iran’s “This is just the tip of the iceberg. at least two dozen immov- and precious stones, which is purported involvement of a Red Crescent said it had dispatched 12 teams to This big banking fraud was fuelled able properties under the Pre- now being probed by the tax few employees of the bank. the region. at the time of #DeMonetisation. Big vention of Money Laundering department. The CBI is examining bal- “Given the fact that the area is mountainous, money laundering happened during Act (PMLA). Both the ED and the IT ance sheets of 18 India-based it is not possible to send ambulances,” Mojtaba DeMo,” the Chief Minister tweeted. The ED on Sunday raided department had formed spe- subsidiaries of the Gitanjali Khaledi, spokesman for the national emergency Alleging that key officials at least 45 premises, includ- group of companies pro- services, told ISNA news agency. were changed in some banks dur- ing jewellery showrooms moted by Mehul Choksi to Decades of international sanctions have ing demonetisation, Banerjee also and workshops, across the PNB FRAUD understand the money trail left Iran with an ageing fleet of passenger demanded an investigation into the country. cial teams to investigate the of funds taken from various planes which it has struggled to maintain and people who replaced them and those “As many as 29 prop- case, sources said. banks from Rs 11,384 crore modernise. involved in effecting the transfers or erties – of Modi, his fam- The ED has seized dia- of guarantees furnished by It has suffered multiple aviation disasters, removals. This is just the tip of the iceberg. This ily members and companies monds, gold jewellery and the Punjab National Banks, most recently in 2014 when a Sepahan plane “Key bank officials were changed. big banking fraud was fuelled at the time – that have been provision- other precious stones worth officials said here on Sunday. crashed killing 39 people. Who are these people put in? There ally attached by the Income Rs 5,674 crore till now in the As investigations into the Tabatabai said the plane that crashed on are more banks involved. The full of #DeMonetisation Big money laundering Tax department are being case. The I-T department Rs 11,400 crore scam at PNB Sunday was a twin-engine turboprop ATR-72. truth must come out,” she tweeted assessed by the ED under the Saturday attached nine bank gather momentum, officials Aseman currently has a fleet of 36 planes – on Sunday. happened during DeMo,” PMLA. accounts of Gitanjali Gems, at overseas branches of other half of them 105-seat Dutch Fokker 100s. It may be mentioned that the BJP- A few more assets will its promoter Mehul Choksi banks, where the fraudulently Its three Boeing 727-200s are almost as old led NDA government had demon- the Punjab National Bank in Mumbai. of people’s money must be ensured. be attached soon under the and others in connection with issued Letter of Undertakings as the Islamic revolution, having made their first etised Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes on There has been a scam of Rs 11,000 We will not let them (the Central anti-money laundering law,” a tax evasion probe against (LoUs) were encashed, are flights in 1980. AGENCIES November 8, 2016, claiming that crore. This is the money of common government) off the hook until that a senior ED official said. them. under scanner, sources said. it would curb circulation of black people. Who took away the money? happens.” He added that the ED It had also attached 29 Officials of Hong Kong money. Who ate it up?” Meanwhile, mudslinging between and the I-T department properties and 105 bank branches of Indian lenders Banerjee had been vocal against She had demanded a thorough BJP and the Congress has begun in had zeroed in on about 200 accounts of Modi, his family including Allahabad Bank, Give me peace, I the PNB scam as soon as it came to probe into the incident and said, full swing over the scam, with both dummy or shell companies in members and firms owned State Bank of India (SBI), the forefront. While addressing a pub- “Offenders will run away after steal- parties blaming each other for allow- the country and abroad that by them. Union Bank, UCO Bank and will pursue dialogue lic meeting at Jhargram on February ing the money but what will happen ing Nirav Modi and his associates were being used to route or Modi, Choksi and others Axis Bank are part of the 15, she had said, “Today people are to the common man? Scams like this involved in the fraud, to flourish dur- receive funds as part of the are being investigated by mul- entire fraud which continued MEHBOOBA MUFTI shocked to see what has happened in must be investigated. The security ing their respective tenures. alleged fraud. tiple probe agencies after it for 7 years. In today’s Congress demands white paper ... paper on banking system CITY MPOST BUREAU MEDICAL ASPIRANTS IN A FIX 4 NATION NEW DELHI: The Congress on Sun- JK HOME DEPT IGNORED WARNINGS 5 day alleged that “fraudsters” were linked to the “highest echelons” of OPINION the BJP-led NDA and urged the gov- THE E-VEHICLE PARADOX 8 ernment to bring out a white paper on the banking system which it said INTERNATIONAL had witnessed scams involving over HUGE FIRE ENGULFS JOKHANG TEMPLE 11 Rs 61,000 crore in the last five years. “Bank frauds are tumbling out BUSINESS of the closet faster than you can say, Jack Robinson,” Congress spokesper- GOVT TRANSFORMING AVIATION 12 son Manish Tewari said, alleging that The frauds in the Indian banks are SPORT another banking fraud was now out growing every day, the former Union in the open. minister said, claiming that accord- MOURINHO SWEAT OVER POGBA 14 Referring to the Rs 11,400-crore ing to Reserve Bank of India data, Rs scam in which billionaire jewel- 61,260 crore of banking frauds had ler Nirav Modi and his uncle Mehul taken place in the last five years. FOR ADVERTISING Choksi allegedly acquired fraudulent Therefore, the Congress party kindly contact at 9810195709 letters of undertaking (LoUs) from “demands a white paper on the Indian or state-owned Punjab National Bank banking system from the government,” (PNB), Tewari said while the “Modi- he said, adding that the BJP-led NDA [email protected] Choksi tango” was still going on, should direct all banks to publish and reports had emerged about another declare the name of fraudsters and FOR SUBSCRIPTION banking fraud. details related to NPAs ( non-perform- kindly contact at 8800854665 Vikram Kothari, the owner of ing assets). or Rotomac pens, owes Rs 800 crore to a The total NPAs of all public and [email protected] consortium of Indian banks and was private banks were worth Rs 8,36,782 now untraceable, he said.