Modi Under Fire as Alleged $2 Billion Fraud Hits Anti-Graft Image
- Scandal at state-owned bank could prove politically damaging
- Narendra Modi’s party has pledged a crackdown on fugitives
This article is for subscribers only.
Shortly after a $2 billion bank fraud was uncovered last month at India’s state-owned Punjab National Bank, a picture emerged of Prime Minister Narendra Modi with the alleged fraudster.
The photo showed Modi posing at the World Economic Forum in Davos on Jan. 23 with a large business delegation that included billionaire jeweler Nirav Modi, who is at the center of the unfolding scandal. That was enough for opponents and even one of Modi’s coalition partners to question the prime minister’s commitment to rooting out corruption -- a key part of his pitch to voters.