Stepping up his attack, BJP leader Subramanian Swamy on Wednesday demanded a CBI probe against RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan for violations in giving approval to 10 Small Finance Banks. In a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Swamy accused Rajan for giving approval to the firms violating the eligibility criteria. He said most of these 10 firms are covertly owned by foreign firms and had Rajan's blessings.
"The guidelines were brazenly flouted in grant of approval and hence this not in public interest. Therefore, these illegal approvals attract provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act. The present Governor of RBI is thus answerable in a probe into this matter," said Swamy.
In his three page complaint demanding SIT probe by CBI, Swamy said there were 72 applicants and half of the selected firms violated the eligibility criteria. "It is also important to mention here that most of the successful applicants are funded or supported by 1 or 2 common foreign entities run by specific community.
"It can be clearly made out from the Annual Reports of the 10 shortlisted applicants out of which each of them is a NBFC/MFI/lAB, that not even a single company of the shortlisted applicants fulfils all the criteria laid down in the guidelines for SFB which confirms malice in the RBI decision," said Swamy.