Do depositors ever want to know if their trusted bank is run by people who don’t choose their words carefully? That’s just what happened back in 2018, the year when the Rs 14,000-crore Punjab National Bank (PNB) scam was unearthed. The country’s banking system hit a historic low during that year. And amidst the financial storm, PNB’s then non-executive chairman Sunil Mehta ended up using the word “cancer” to describe the scame, and stood instantaneously corrected by an eminent doctor and then several other medical practitioners.
Before we get to details of that incident, it’s important for the unversed to know who Mehta is.
Who is Sunil Mehta, the name synonymous with controversy?
Currently serving as Chairman of IndusInd Bank, Mehta has had a long and varied career in finance, holding key positions at major institutions like SBI, Citibank, AIG and Punjab National Bank.
He is also the founder and chairman of SPM Capital Advisers and serves as the chief executive of the Indian Banks’ Association.
Despite his impressive background, Mehta’s leadership at IndusInd Bank is causing a stir among investors and market participants.
For beginners, Mehta’s tenure at Punjab National Bank was marked by controversy, particularly the 2018 Rs 14,000-crore scam, which was described as the largest banking fraud in the country’s history.
As the bank’s non-executive chairman, Mehta attributed the fraud to a “people failure” rather than a system failure. This incident has raised questions about Mehta’s involvement and functioning in the IndusInd Bank case.
When an eminent doctor censured Sunil Mehta for using the word cancer to describe the PNB scam
“Corruption is something to be ashamed of, cancer is not,” said Dr V Shanta. “Do not try to find parallels where none exist. Do not mix cancer with corruption. Ever,” she reportedly wrote in a letter to Mehta.
Her remarks came days after Mehta, speaking at a press conference in connection with the PNB scam, said: “This cancer, that’s been going on since 2011, we have brought it out and we are resolving it.”
Dr Shanta, and many others, strongly voiced their concerns about the the use of the term.
“I was extremely disturbed to read your reference to cancer in the context of the recent scam unearthed at your bank,” Dr Shanta reportedly wrote in the letter.
She also urged others not to use the word cancer in such sense, emphasising the need to sensitise the public on the subject.
