New Delhi : Passport details of borrowers taking loans of Rs 50 crore and more have been mandatory to ensure a swift action in case of fraud and prevent fraudsters from fleeing the country, a top official said on Saturday. Passport details will help banks to take timely action and inform the relevant authorities to prevent fraudsters from fleeing the country. “Next step on clean and responsible banking. Passport details must for loans above Rs 50 crore.
Step to ensure quick response in case of fraud,” Financial Services Secretary Rajiv Kumar tweeted. This is a preventive step to avoid flight of economic offenders and banks to collect passport details of all new borrowers
of loans in excess of Rs 50 crore, he said. For all existing loans of over Rs 50 crore, banks have been asked to collect passport details of borrowers within 45 days, he added. In absence of passport details, banks were hamstrung in taking timely action to prevent defaulters especially wilful one from fleeing the country. Several big defaulters like Nirav Modi, Mehul Choksi, Vijay Mallya and Jatin Mehta have fled the country putting the recovery mechanism in quandary.
Nirav Modi will take time to return because of security concerns: Lawyer
Mumbai: Nirav Modi’s lawyer of businessman on Saturday said that his client has sent a response to the Central Bureau of Investigation’s (CBI) summon, stating that he will take time to return to India as there are security concerns. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Thursday sent fresh summons to Nirav Modi and his uncle Mehul Choksi to join the investigation as early as possible and cooperate. “My client Nirav Modi has sent a response to the CBI. He will take time to come back as there are security concerns and my client is also managing his business abroad,” Modi’s lawyer Vijay Aggarwal told ANI.