CBI CONDUCT SEARCHES AT AROUND 48 PLACES IN 12 STATES/UNION TERRITORIES IN A COUNTRY-WIDE SPECIAL DRIVE AND REGISTERS 14 CASES RELATED TO BANK FRAUD SCAM

The Central Bureau of Investigation has today

conducted searches at around 48 places, including Delhi, Mumbai, Ludhiana, Thane, Valsad, Pune, Palani, Gaya, Gurugram, Chandigarh, Bhopal, Surat, Kollar, Silvasa, Aligarh, Fazilka, Muktsar, Bhawanigarh against the accused including various companies/firms; their Promoters/Directors; bank officials and unknown others.

The First case has been registered against Mumbai based private diamonds company; its Promoter, 5 Directors; a private person and unknown public servants/unknown others on a complaint from EXIM Bank for causing a wrongful loss of approximate Rs.202 crore including interest to the bank.

  It was alleged that the accused persons defrauded Exim Bank of India in the matter of 3 SBLCs issued to the overseas bullion banks viz Bank of Nova Scotia, London and Standard Chartered PLC, London and Packing credit. The modus operandi as alleged in the complaint was that the accused persons including the purported buyers controlled by a private person located in UAE in connivance with the Promoter and Director of said Mumbai based private company and others wilfully defaulted their payments that led to invocation of SBLCs by the bullion banks.

Searches have been conducted at Mumbai.

  The Second case has been registered against private company based at Ludhiana; its MD/Guarantor; Director/Guarantor; shareholder/guarantor; other private company based at Ludhiana; unknown public servants and private persons on a complaint from State Bank of India for causing alleged loss of Rs.143.25 crore (approx) to the bank.

 It was alleged that the accused directors and guarantors of the Ludhiana based garment manufacturing & exporting company, in connivance with unknown bank officials & others dishonestly & fraudulently availed credit facilities of Rs.161.24 crores (approx) from SBI, Commercial Branch, Ludhiana by resorting to falsification of accounts and forgery of documents, such as invoices & lorry receipts, falsely showing movement of goods purchased from various suppliers. The company allegedly siphoned off the funds & defaulted in payment of the dues and caused a wrongful loss of Rs.143.25 crore (approx) to the bank.

 Searches have been conducted at 04 locations in Ludhiana.

 The Third case has been registered against Kolar District(Karnataka) based company; 04 Directors and unknown others on a complaint from State Bank of India for causing alleged loss of Rs.98.75 crore (approx) to SBI.

 It was alleged that the said private company engaged in the manufacturing of lead acid batteries with its factory premises at Kolar District(Karnataka) had availed various Term Loans from time to time from State Bank of India, Commercial Branch, Erode, Tamilnadu and diverted the funds. In furtherance of the said conspiracy, Kolar based private company had raised invoices on M/s.BSNL, Kerala Telecom Circle, Trivandrum and other private company and the same were discounted by Kolar based private company with Canbank Factors Ltd., Bangalore. However, these invoices were not reflected in the books of accounts of said private company used journal voucher as a tool in the books of accounts to manipulate the balance outstanding at the year end. The company allegedly defrauded in making payments, the account was classified as NPA on 24.05.2016.

 Searches have been conducted at Palani, Thirupur, Kolar and Bangalore.

 The Fourth case has been registered against private Hotels & Resorts Company based at Gaya and 12 others, including its Director/Guarantor; Chartered Accountant on a complaint from Central Bank of India for causing alleged fraud amounting to Rs.131.79 crore (approx) on Central Bank of India, Allahabad Bank and Bank of Baroda.

 Searches have been conducted at 04 places at Gaya.

 The Fifth case has been registered against Gulalwadi, Mumbai based private company and 05 others including Directors; Financial Consultants etc and other unknown public servants/others on a complaint from Union Bank of India for causing loss of approximately Rs.57.38 crore including interest.

 It was alleged that during the years 2016-2018, the said private company; its Directors and the accused persons entered into criminal conspiracy at Mumbai and other places with an intent to cheat Union Bank of India in the matter of availing financial assistance from the Bank for issuance of Non Fund Based Limit to the tune of Rs.50 crore (approx).

 Searches have been conducted at 05 places in Mumabi.

  The Sixth case has been registered against Naya Bazar, Delhi based private company and others including 02 Directors and other private persons for causing huge loss to the bank.

 It was alleged that the company had fraudulently availed credit facility of Rs.55.56 crore(approx) from Union Bank of India, Khari Baoli Branch, Delhi and offered collateral security of a property in Civil Line Delhi which was already mortgaged to Pubjab and Sind Bank and thus cheated the bank.

  Searches have been conducted at 03 places in Delhi.

  The Seventh case has been registered against NCR based private company and 09 other private persons, including its Director and Guarantor.

  It was alleged that the company had fraudulently availed credit facility of Rs.93 crore (approx) from Corporation Bank, Mid Corporate Branch, Sector-18, Noida on the basis of over valuation and forged title deeds of two properties mortgaged as collateral security with the bank.

  Searches have been conducted at 02 places in Delhi.

 The Eighth case has been registered against an Aligarh(Uttar Pradesh) based private Foods Company; its Managing Director; other private persons and other unknown persons on a complaint from Union Bank of India.

  It was alleged that the said private company was sanctioned credit facilities to the tune of Rs.70 crore(approx) by Union Bank of India. It was further alleged by the bank that the accused had initiated the Bank transactions with resulted into diversion of the funds and thereby cheated the Bank. The said persons also allegedly had disposed off the hypothecated goods and other securities for their unlawful gain and caused loss of Rs.60 crore(approx) to the Bank.

  Searches have been conducted at 03 places at Gurugram and Aligarh.

 The Ninth case has been registered against five private companies based at Chandigarh and Punjab; its Directors/Promoters and others on a complaint from SIDBI. It was alleged that the said Directors/Promoters got sanctioned Term Loan of Rs.1500 lakh from SIDBI, Sector 17, Chandigarh on 01.03.2012 towards setting up Central processing Unit at Village Dabwala Kalan and four Primary Processing Centers at Bodiwala Khadag Singh, Fazilka. It was also alleged that the borrowers again applied for TL-II of Rs.1500 lakh and TL-III of Rs.350 lakh on 09.06.2014 and the same was disbursed during the period 31.12.2014 to 14.12.2015 in eight installments. It was alleged that the said loans were not repaid and the same were declared as NPA in June 2017. It was alleged that the borrower has obtained loans from other banks for land, building, plant, machinery and for working capital requirements of the said projects. It was also alleged that IMFPL submitted false information and forged documents to SIDBI for obtaining the said TLs and siphoned off the loan amount for their personal gain and thereby caused a loss to the tune of approximately Rs.4014.75 lakh (including interest).

  Searches were conducted at eight locations including Chandigarh, Bhawanigarh, New Delhi, Fazilka and Mukatsar.

  The Tenth case has been registered on a complaint from Bank of Baroda against Bhopal based private firm; its two partners and other unknown public servants & private persons. It was alleged that during the years 2010 to 2017 the said partnership firm had obtained Cash Credit Limit from the Bank of Baroda through its Habibganj Branch, Bhopal (M.P.) against the hypothecation of Stocks and Book Debts as well as Collateral Securities. The accused persons indulged into criminal conspiracy with dishonest intention with a view to cheat the Bank and caused wrongful loss to the Bank and wrongful gain to themselves by diverting/siphoning the funds to the tune of Rs.34.36 crore (approx.) which were illegally diverted and utilized for other purposes. The account of the firm was declared NPA on 31.03.2017 due to non-payment of the bank dues.

  Searches were conducted at three places in Bhopal.

  The Eleventh case has been registered against private textile company based at Surat and four others including Director, Guarantor on a complaint from Bank of Baroda. It was alleged that the said company had cheated the Bank of Baroda, SSI Sachin Branch, Surat with regard to a Term Loan Facility to the tune of Rs.28.20 crore (approx.) during the period July / August – 2012 in regard to purchase of 132 Jet Weaving Machineries. The company purchased only 84 machines as against 132 machines which was financed by Bank of Baroda, SSI Sachin Branch, Surat. The accused persons diverted the funds for non-business purposes and thus caused loss to Bank of Baroda, SSI Sachin Branch, Surat.

  Searches were conducted at three places in Surat.

  The Twelth case has been registered on a complaint from Canara Bank on the allegations that the then Manager of Canara Bank, Kanchrapara Branch, West Bengal sanctioned 32 ODCC, MSME and Term loans during the period from 30.06.2014 to 09.03.2016 to some private persons and private firms by deliberately violating the guidelines, norms and procedure of the bank in order to cause undue favour to the accused private persons (borrowers). The KYC norms and Pre Sanction procedure were also wilfully violated by accepting fabricated and fake/forged documents of ownership of property and thus, the accused sanctioned the said loans with ulterior motive, in connivance with other unknown officials of Canara Bank and unknown private persons, which caused a wrongful loss of Rs. 521.68 lakh (approx.) to the said bank.

  Searches were conducted at three premises in North 24 Paraganas.

  The Thirteenth case has been registered against a private company and others for causing loss of Rs.91.36 crore(approx) to Bank of India.

  The Fourteenth case has been registered against Directors of a private company and others for causing loss of Rs.69.98 crore (approx) to Indian Overseas Bank.

  In both the above two cases (13th & 14th ), it was alleged that the accused persons pursuant to the criminal conspiracy defrauded the bank to the tune of Rs.91.36 crore (approx) and Rs.69.98 crore(approx) respectively. The modus operandi as alleged was that the company has not routed its sales through TRP/CC account and the company has tried to inflate the sales. The directors of the bank also misrepresented to the bank about the manufacturing capacity and utilized the funds for the limits other than the sanctioned purpose and siphoned off the funds. The Company also misappropriated the funds generated out of the sale of scrapped spindles which was created out of bank finance.

  Searches in these two cases (13th & 14th ) have been conducted at Silvassa, Bhilad(Gujarat), Thane, Pune and Mumbai.

 Investigation is continuing.