Wednesday, June 27, 2007

PSB hijack and other stories

The Punjab and Sind Bank (PSB) fiasco is an issue that goes beyond the bank, the banking sector, the institutional processes by which private money is controlled by public authorities or even corporate governance. It, in a manner ironical, questions the issue of crony capitalism that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh raised last month.
True, it’s finally PSB that’s under fire, with Congress party thrust ‘independent directors’ slugging it out with the bank’s chairman R.P. Singh, trading charges in public. The independent directors, two of whom are likely to get marching orders anytime now with another three following suit, claim the bank’s management led by Singh is underselling the bank. Singh in an open press conference yesterday showed how these ‘independent’ directors are interfering in the day-to-day functioning of the bank and are currying favours for their political masters, colleagues, sympathisers. On the other hand, perhaps they’re only in the self-gratification mode. Truth is on its way out and we are tracking the story.

Opinion in The Indian Express, June 27, 2007

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