RBI didn’t audit PNB properly: CVC

RBI didn’t audit PNB properly: CVC

CVC bats for more robust auditing system, says banks must conduct business in an ethical manner

Apportioning blame to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) over the PNB loan fraud, Central Vigilance Commissioner K.V. Chowdary on Tuesday there had been “no apparent audit” by the central bank during the period of the scam.

Mr. Chowdary stressed the need to put into place a more robust auditing system. “They did not do this [an audit],” the head of the probity watchdog said.

The CVC exercises superintendence over the CBI which is looking into the over ₹13,000-crore Punjab National Bank fraud case.

The RBI had the regulatory responsibility for the banking sector but any lack of integrity would be looked at by the Central Vigilance Commission, he added. Mr. Chowdary said according to the RBI it had switched over from a periodic audit to a “risk-based” audit which is conducted when there is a financial risk involved.

“To determine risk, they must have some parameters. Based on that they would have done that [auditing]. [But] there was no apparent audit by the RBI during this period [of fraud],” Mr.Chowdary said.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had in February slammed regulators for failing to detect the fraud, saying that unlike politicians, regulators were unaccountable. Mr. Chowdary pointed out that the RBI issues general guidelines as a regulator and also when foreign exchange is involved.

“They are not going to see from branch to branch and bank to bank what they are supposed to do,” he said.

It was primarily the responsibility of the banks to ensure that their business was conducted in a proper and ethical way, he added.

‘Systemic issue’

“There is a systemic issue [here]. They [RBI] have decided instead of every year or every once in two, three or four years, they will do it [risk-based auditing].

“It is a good policy. But how they determine the risk parameters... and why this (fraud) did not come up are matters of detail,” Mr. Chowdary said. He, however, clarified that it was not just the PNB where an alleged fraud had taken place or that other banks were “100% correct“.

On a bank’s role in checking frauds, he said there were “no timelines” when it comes to deeper decision making processes. “There should be defined timelines. The preventive vigilance mechanism has to be strengthened. The guidelines and operating procedures have to be strengthened. It has to be ensured that they are followed,” he said.

On the PNB scam probe, he said what the CVC was doing in the case could not be disclosed now as “it is work in progress.”