Congress slams BJP over rising bank frauds in country; claims over 27,000 forgery cases in NDA's first term

Congress party on Monday took a pot shot at Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led NDA government claiming that about 27,125 bank fraud cases took place in the last five years.

Shergill said in 2017-18, the total number of bank fraud cases stood at 5,916 to the tune of Rs 41,460 crore. (Image: PTI)

New Delhi: Days after the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) revealed the unprecedented hike in bank frauds in 2018-19 fiscal, Congress party on Monday took a pot shot at Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led NDA government claiming that about 27,125 bank fraud cases took place in the last five years to the tune of Rs 1.74 lakh crore and demanded the government to save the sinking economy. The party stated that it came up with the figure through an Right To Information (RTI) query. Addressing a press conference at the party headquarters, Congress spokesperson Jaiveer Shergill said, “Through an RTI query, it has been revealed that the bank fraud cases rose in last one year to 6,800 to the tune of Rs 71,500 crore.” Shergill said in 2017-18, the total number of bank fraud cases stood at 5,916 to the tune of Rs 41,460 crore. He said the BJP government need to accept the fact instead of indulging in blame game. The Congress leader, in his speech, also said that in last five years from 2013-14 to 2018-19, there have been 27,125 bank fraud cases to the tune of Rs 1.74 lakh crore. Further hitting out at the saffron party, the Congress leader said that the BJP need to come out of their election celebration mode to rescue the sinking economy from the bank frauds and flying fraudsters. Slamming the BJP government for not disclosing the names of the willful defaulters, Shergill said that the Supreme Court in 2015 directed the RBI and the government to disclose the names of the willful defaulters. "But the names have not been disclosed yet. Why is the BJP hiding these names?" he questioned. Instead of pressuring the Reserve bank of India, the BJP should disclose the names of the willful defaulters to the people of the country," he said. Shergill also appealed to Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman to take stock of the Finance Ministry and rescue the economy. Over 6,800 cases of bank fraud involving an unprecedented Rs 71,500 crore have been reported in 2018-19, the Reserve Bank of India had said earlier this month. A total of 5,916 such cases were reported by banks in 2017-18 involving Rs 41,167.03 crore, it said.