A serious Gujarat-based shipbuilding firm and its administrators have been booked by CBI for fraudulent mortgage default to the tune of Rs 22,842 crore, making it one of many greatest mortgage fraud instances the company is probing.
The company has booked ABG Shipyard Ltd (ABGSL) and its former chairman and managing director, Rishi Kamlesh Agarwal, together with then government director Santhanam Muthaswamy, administrators Ashwini Kumar, Sushil Kumar Agarwal and Ravi Vimal Nevetia.
Another firm, ABG International Pvt Ltd, has additionally been booked within the case for alleged offenses of prison conspiracy, dishonest, prison breach of belief and abuse of official place underneath IPC and Prevention of Corruption Act.
ABG Shipyard is alleged to have diverted mortgage funds by means of subsidiaries in Singapore and thru different means between 2012 and 2017. The mortgage was declared NPA in July 2016, and the corporate is already dealing with proceedings within the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT).
The FIR has been registered on the idea of a 2019 criticism from the State Bank of India, one of many lenders.
The CBI, which registered the case on February 7, carried out searches at 13 areas in premises of the accused on Saturday. These embody premises linked with ABGSL and its administrators in Surat, Bharuch, Mumbai and Pune, amongst different locations. “It was alleged that the accused had cheated the consortium of 28 banks, together with branches of erstwhile State Bank of Patiala, Commercial Finance Branch, New Delhi; erstwhile State Bank of Travancore, Commercial Branch, New Delhi; State Bank of India, Overseas Branch, Mumbai and so forth. The consortium of 28 banks was led by ICICI Bank,” CBI mentioned in an announcement.
According to CBI, the Surat-based firm was engaged in shipbuilding and ship restore.
“It was alleged that the accused had colluded and committed activities by way of diversion of funds for the purpose other than for which the funds were released by the bank,” the company acknowledged. “Huge amounts were allegedly transferred by the said company to its related parties and adjustment entries were made.”
“It was alleged that financial institution loans to the mentioned non-public firm was diverted and big funding was discovered to be made within the abroad subsidiary. It was alleged that funds from banks have been diverted to buy property within the title of associated events,” it acknowledged.
According to CBI, the ABG Group, which owns ABGSL, is a significant participant within the Indian shipbuilding business. ABGSL’s shipyards are positioned at Dahej and Surat in Gujarat, and the corporate has capability to construct vessels as much as 18,000 lifeless weight tonnage (DWT) at Surat Shipyard and 1,20,000 lifeless weight tonnage (DWT) at Dahej Shipyard, it acknowledged. ABGSL has constructed over 165 vessels, together with 46 for export market, within the final 16 years. These embody specialised vessels akin to newsprint carriers, self-discharging and loading bulk cement carriers, floating cranes, dynamic positioning diving assist vessels and flotilla for main firms in India and overseas.
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With inputs from TheIndianEXPRESS
