Centre Dismisses Ex-MD Of PNB Usha Ananthasubramanian, Sanctions Prosecution

Turning the heat on the highest echelons of Punjab National Bank (PNB), the Union government on Monday dismissed Usha Ananthasubramanian for her alleged failure to act on the massive bank fraud carried out by absconding diamond merchant Nirav Modi and associates.

Ananthasubramanian was serving as the Managing Director (MD) and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Allahabad Bank before her dismissal. She was slated to retire on Monday, but was dismissed just ahead of that.

Three months ago, Ananthasubramanian was forcibly divested of all her powers as MD of Allahabad Bank, after her name figured in CBI chargesheet in the Rs 13,500-crore Nirav Modi-PNB scam case.

Ananthasubramanian was the MD of PNB between August 2015 and May 2017, before moving to Allahabad Bank.

In the chargesheet, CBI alleged that Ananthasubramanian and some other senior bank officials did not take any corrective measures despite being aware of the fraud. The agency has also alleged that Ananthasubrahmanian had unauthorisedly delegated the Reserve Bank of India’s guidelines work to her subordinates without any follow-up action.

The Centre has also given the go-ahead to the investigating agency to prosecute Ananthasubramanian and former PNB Executive Director (ED) Sanjiv Sharan. The government is yet to decide the action it plans to take on another PNB ED K V Brahmaji Rao, whose name also figured in the CBI chargesheet.