Calling the massive fraud of over Rs 11K crore “a standalone incident” in just one branch, Sunil Mehta, Managing Director of the Punjab National Bank (PNB), said on Thursday, 15 February, that no branch employee, junior of senior, will be spared.

India’s financial market was rocked on Wednesday, 14 February, after PNB, the country’s second-largest public-sector bank, said that it had detected a fraud of Rs 11,515 crore (or $1,771.69 million) in one of its branches in Mumbai.

“We launched a probe as soon as the scam was unearthed,” Mehta told the media at a press conference.

He said that PNB will own all responsibility if the probe reveals that the entire onus is of the bank, but no one can be a “beneficiary” of it.

According to Mehta, the fraud, which started in 2011, was detected in the third week of January this year following which the bank complained to the CBI on 29 January. “An FIR was registered on 30 January,” he said.

“Our bank has seen many ups and downs. As far as the bank is concerned, we have the capacity and capability to emerge out of the situation,” Mehta told the gaggle of reporters.

Mehta informed the press that the bank is working relentlessly against the officials involved in the fraud. He said that the bank has also informed the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) under the disclosures agreement.

Urging the press to give “some breathing time” to execute the action plan against the accused, Mehta said that the bank is addressing the matter now to ensure that the “sensitive issue” does not affect the liabilities of different stakeholders or hamper the investigative process.

“Criminal complaint has been filed against the staff members and some of them have been suspended,” he said adding complaint has been filed against the main beneficiary of the fraud as well.

He stressed that PNB is committed to clean banking and will strive to honour all bonafide commitments.

Earlier today, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) sealed billionaire jewellery designer Nirav Modi’s house and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) conducted raids at multiple locations in connection with a Rs 280 crore money laundering case against him and others, following a complaint by Punjab National Bank (PNB).

Read More: PNB fraud: CBI seals Nirav Modi’s house, ED raids multiple location

Modi is a billionaire diamond jewellery designer. He has also been accused by PNB of fraudulent transactions worth about Rs 11K crore in addition to Rs 280 crore case.

The fraud was detected in the PNB’s Brady House Branch, in south Mumbai, which is its second-biggest lending branch in the country.

The magnitude of the fraud is considerably higher than default of around Rs 9,000 crore by Vijay Mallya.

Read More: PNB detects fraud of over Rs 11K crore in a single branch, stocks tank