Nirav Modi scam: Here are a list of fraud cases that shook the country

India is not new to corruption. Infact if we go by statistics then India is the most corrupt country in Asia and that is well, not a very humble position to bag. In the past few days, new channels have been buzzing with the news of the Nirav Modi fraud case. The celebrity jewellery designer, has landed himself in trouble after Punjab National Bank (India’s second largest government bank) accused him of $1.8 billion fraud. The bank in a regulatory filing of the stock said that it had detected “fraudulent and unauthorised” transactions amounting to Rs. 11,360 crore at a branch in Mumbai.

The case, needless to say has stirred up quite a lot of controversy and has raised many questions against the functioning of the country. Listed below are the list of scams and fraud cases that shook the entire nation.

Commonwealth Games

Touted as one of the biggest scams in India, the commonwealth games fraud case shook the nation in 2010. The case involved a larceny of Rs. 70,000 crore and was into corrupt deals since the very beginning. From criminal conspiracy, forgery to cheating and inflated contracts, the CWG fraud case had it all. Suresh Kalmadi the then Lok Sabha member was in the centre of the whole controversy and was charged under the Prevention of Corruption Act.

Not even half the amount that was supposed to be spent on the sportspersons was spent. It was reported that Indian athletes were forced to stay in improper and shabby apartments instead of the flats that were allotted to them.   

2g scam

Another scam to have surfaced under the former government’s rule. The scam surfaced in 2008 when the government has undercharged various telecom companies for frequency allocation licenses. The CAG (Comptroller and  Auditor General of India) said that “the difference between the money collected and that mandated to be collected was Rs 1.76 trillion”. The Supreme Court in 2012 cancelled the 122 granted licenses which were issued in 2008 by A. Raja, the then Minister of Communications and IT.

Satyam scam

Also known as the ‘Satyam ghotala’ or ‘India’s Enron Scandal’, this scam was quite a blow to the investors and shareholders sector. The Chairman of Satyam Computer Services, Ramalinga Raju did confess that he had falsified the company’s accounts which in return helped in inflating the revenue and shares. The scam involved Rs. 14,000 crores. After the investigations, Ramalinga Raju and 10 other members faced imprisonment and post that Tech Mahindra took over the company.

Adarsh Housing Scam

The amount of outrage the Adarsh Housing Scam received was maddening. The Adarsh Society was specifically built for the welfare of war widows personnel of Defence Ministry in 2011. The CAG (Comptroller and  Auditor General of India) noticed that over the period of 10 years, the society was taken over by various politicians , military officials and bureaucrats. It was also said that these politicians allocated the flats to themselves way below the existing rates. CAG had said, “The episode of Adarsh Co-operative Housing Society reveals how a group of select officials, placed in key posts could subvert rules and regulations in order to grab prime government land – a public property – for personal benefit.”

The then Chief Minister of Maharashtraa, Ashok Chavan was forced to resign and many former chief ministers like, Vilasrao Deshmukh, Sushilkumar Shinde, Shivajirao Nilangekar Patil, two former urban development ministers and 12 top bureaucrats were indicted with illegal acts.

‘Coalgate Scam’

Another scam that involved various influential politicians, ministers and bureaucrats from the then ruling party. The scam was brought to light in 2012 and the CAG reported ‘inefficient and illegal’ allocation of coal blocks between 2004-09. The Government of India followed a competitive bidding system to allocate coal blocks. However, according to CAG’s investigation revealed that the government followed another route which was corrupt and subjective. The CAG then noticed that both the public and private sectors paid really less resulting in loss of revenue for the government.