Bank denies appointment of PwC for audit

Punjab National Bank on Friday denied reports that it appointed global firm PwC for forensic audit of accounts of Nirav Modi, accused in Rs 11,400 crore scam, in view of Sebi's order against the audit firm.

Finding Price Waterhouse guilty in the multi-crore Satyam scam, Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) in January had barred its network entities from issuing audit certificates to any listed company in India for two years.

In reply to clarifications sought by stock exchanges, PNB said it has initiated the process of assigning forensic audit in the accounts of Nirav Modi Group and bids were invited from major audit firms.

"Bid from M/s PwC was also received but in view of Sebi order dated Janaury 10, 2018 the same has not been considered," the bank said. The bank further said that it is finalising the forensic audit allocation amongst the remaining bidders as per the Central Vigilance Commissions guidelines. The bank also denied reports that details of debit and credit cards of its thousands of customers have been leaked.

"No card data breach has been detected in PNB's infrastructure. Bank's security infrastructure is strong enough and bank has taken all necessary technological steps to safeguard customer data," it said.

PNB said that it has a board approved cyber crisis management plan in place which takes care of all aspects of customer protection.

Meanwhile, PNB shares have plunged al most 30 per cent on the BSE during the eight trading sessions following the detection of a $1.8 billion fraud at one of its branches. The scrip on Friday closed lower by 1.09 per cent at Rs 113.40. The stocks have plummeted 29.84 per cent since close on February 12 at Rs 161.65 per share.

The bank has also said in a statement that it has not imposed any withdrawal limits on its customers and normal banking activities are going on.

"Virat Kohli is our brand ambassador," the bank said, denying media reports that he is going to discontinue his endorsement with the bank. "The same is again totally false and incorrect," it added. On the reports floating on the social media and other platforms that the bank has imposed a withdrawal limit of Rs 3,000 per customer, Punjab National Bank said: "It is absolutely incorrect, no such limit has been fixed by the bank and normal banking activities are going as usual.

"No restrictions on the withdrawals have been imposed by the bank," it clarified. Further clarifying on news that RBI and the government have asked the bank to make payment to the fraudulent amount to other banks, it said: "The report is totally incorrect and the bank confirms not having received any such instructions."