When it Comes to Fraud, Strike the Shepherd, and the Sheep will Scatter.
A few weeks ago, the story of Nirav Modi, an Indian jeweler turned scammer, hit the global headlines with the local dailies reporting that he had defrauded the Punjab National Bank a whopping $1.73 billion. Even more amazing is the fact that the fraud did not happen overnight but in six years and under the watch of bank officials.
Questions have been raised about how such a blatant scam would happen undetectably and without raising the alarm even to one of the many people involved in the process. Normally, financial institutions are required to conduct rigorous due diligence to any person or institution taking a loan irrespective of the social standing or worth.
As is with Nirav Modi's…show more content… Maybe people would be more bitter about the fraud if they were told that the money stolen by this thief would collapse a bank leading the loss of their deposits. Unfortunately, as it is evident with this case, the very rich are not only protected by the systems but also by the society which means that the best way to deal with them is to place full responsibility on the people in the systems that assist them.
As George Carlin, the famous dark humor comedian once said, if you want to eradicate the drug trafficking problem, the best people to go after are the bankers who launder the drug money. Similarly, the authorities should pursue with vehemence the bank employees who assisted Nirav Modi from the bottom to top. Those found culpable should not only be charged but should be exposed to the public through media covered court proceedings. This is not to mean that Nirav Modi should be left alone, but he should be charged alongside his comrades in