It was an oh-so-perfect plan, but like they say- you can run, but you can’t hide from law. When businessman Nirav Modi hatched a plan to loot the second largest public sector bank in India, the plan was simple- bypass the core banking system and exploit a loophole.
Duplicitous ‘Letters of Undertakings’ (type of guarantee issued for overseas import payments) were issued by two bank officials in favour of Nirav Modi’s firms such Diamond R Us, Solar Exports and Stellar Diamonds. The employees also relayed SWIFT instructions to overseas branches of Indian Banks to raise Buyer Credit without making any formal entry.
Ni-Mo is on the run and only time will reveal if he evades law like Mallya. But, not just Nirav, there are several who conned Indians and here is list of these scamsters.
SURESH KALMADI, COMMONWEALTH GAMES SCAM
When India was to host Commonwealth Games in 2010, there was a massive buzz around it, but this excitement soon gave way to embarrassment. Suresh Kalmadi, the organizing chairman of the games was accused of corruption. Bills of common items were inflated, the cost of the games overshot the mandated budget. If that wasn’t enough, 10000 volunteers walked out just one week of the games . All in all, the scam ruined India’s image around the world.
HARSHAD MEHTA-WOLF OF DALAL STREET
In April 1992, there was blood bath on Dalal Street, courtesy the ‘Raging Bull’ Harshad Mehta who managed to con the banking system. Due to operational restrictions Indian Banks were prohibited from investing in equity market directly. But investment into Fixed Interest Bond was allowed up to a certain ratio. Harshad was aware of this loophole. He then tricked banks to invest their money into share market and promised banks higher returns. In the meantime, Harshad use the money invested by banks into his account to again buy shares. Creating an ‘inflation bubble’. He would then resell these shares and return the money to banks and the pocket the profit.
KETAN PAREKH -THE BUTCHER OF BSE
Another Dalal Street slayer, Ketan Parekh perfected the art of con. His methodology?Simple: Parekh would purchase large stakes in small market capitalization companies and would inflate their prices by trading with larger companies or traders (called circular trading). These shares were traded in a set of 10s and was colloquially knowsn as K10. Later it was learnt that several businessmen would pay Parekh to ensure the prices were inflated. This scam was busted only after Govt set up an inquiry to find out why markets tumbled in March 2001.
