News Analysis India

Tag: Bank fraud

  • CBI books Amrapali Silicon City for Rs 177-crore bank fraud, searches 6 locations

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: The CBI on Wednesday conducted searches at six locations in Delhi and Noida after registering an FIR against Amrapali Silicon City Private Limited and its promoter, Anil Kumar Sharma, for alleged bank fraud of Rs 177 crore, officials said.

    The CBI has booked the company on a complaint from Bank of Baroda which was part of a consortium including Bank of Maharashtra and Punjab National Bank.

    The consortium was allegedly cheated by the company, they said.

    The company had taken over 1.76 lakh square metre land from from New Okhla Industrial Development Authority (Noida) for developing a group housing complex, Amrapali Silicon City, in Sector 76 of the Delhi suburb.

    The audit showed that the company sold 468 flats at extremely lower rates with some even lower than the construction cost, they said.

    The forensic audit of the company’s account books and other financial records showed that Rs 73 crore of funds were possibly diverted by selling flats at prices lesser than the construction cost, they said.

    Among other issues, the audit also flagged the company has diverted funds to the tune of Rs 303.18 crore as received from various home buyers to their other group companies, they said.

    The bank has alleged that the company has committed fraud, forgery and misappropriated the loan amount cheating the banks to an extent of Rs 177 crore excluding interest, they said.

    NEW DELHI: The CBI on Wednesday conducted searches at six locations in Delhi and Noida after registering an FIR against Amrapali Silicon City Private Limited and its promoter, Anil Kumar Sharma, for alleged bank fraud of Rs 177 crore, officials said.

    The CBI has booked the company on a complaint from Bank of Baroda which was part of a consortium including Bank of Maharashtra and Punjab National Bank.

    The consortium was allegedly cheated by the company, they said.

    The company had taken over 1.76 lakh square metre land from from New Okhla Industrial Development Authority (Noida) for developing a group housing complex, Amrapali Silicon City, in Sector 76 of the Delhi suburb.

    The audit showed that the company sold 468 flats at extremely lower rates with some even lower than the construction cost, they said.

    The forensic audit of the company’s account books and other financial records showed that Rs 73 crore of funds were possibly diverted by selling flats at prices lesser than the construction cost, they said.

    Among other issues, the audit also flagged the company has diverted funds to the tune of Rs 303.18 crore as received from various home buyers to their other group companies, they said.

    The bank has alleged that the company has committed fraud, forgery and misappropriated the loan amount cheating the banks to an extent of Rs 177 crore excluding interest, they said.

  • Congress questions ‘silence’ of PM, FM on banking fraud by ABG Shipyard

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: The Congress on Friday stepped up its attack on the BJP government asking why the prime minister and the finance minister were silent on the big banking fraud of Rs 22,842 crore by ABG Shipyard.

    The opposition party also asked why Rishi Agarwal, the promoter of the Gujarat-based company, had been not arrested till date.

    Congress spokesperson Gourav Vallabh alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had promised to make India’s economy of USD 5 trillion but instead gave the country bank frauds of Rs 5.35 trillion in the last 7.5 years.

    He claimed that according to an RTI reply by the RBI, recovery rate in 2020-21 of these frauds is 0.7 per cent. He also claimed that the average daily loss to the banking industry due to frauds was Rs 195.5 crore.

    “After Rs 22,842 crore of public money was swindled, the ease of committing fraud in the country is the new scheme launched by the Modi government for bank fraudsters,” he told reporters.

    Vallabh said the biggest bank fraud of Rs 22,842 crore happened under the Modi government and after a 5 year delay, the CBI finally registered an FIR on February 7, 2022, against ABG Shipyard, owned by Agarwal and others, for duping 28 banks.

    “The Modi government is running ‘Loot and Escape’ and ‘ease of committing fraud’ as a flagship scheme for bank fraudsters.

    The fraudsters’ lists include Nirav Modi i.e. Chhota Modi, Mehul Choksi, Ami Modi, Neeshal Modi, Lalit Modi, Vijay Mallya, Jatin Mehta, Chetan Sandesara, Nitin Sandesara and many others, and Rishi Agarwal and others are the new entrants in the list of fraudsters.

    “Why are the PM and the FM mum on India’s biggest banking fraud of Rs 22,842 crore? Why has Rishi Agarwal, the promoter of ABG Shipyard, not been arrested till date,” the Congress leader asked.

    He also questioned the status of Agarwal’s citizenship and why the RBI is behaving as a mere spectator without any action.

  • CBI charges Gupta brothers who founded Ashoka University in Rs 1,626 crore bank fraud

    By IANS

    NEW DELHI: The CBI on Thursday said that it has lodged a case against Pranav Gupta and Vineet Gupta, the co-founders of the Ashoka University, a Chandigarh-based pharmaceutical company and 10 others for allegedly cheating the Central Bank of India and other banks to the tune of Rs 1,626 crore.

    A senior Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) official said that they have lodged an FIR against Pranav Gupta, Vineet Gupta, Chandigarh-based Parabolic Drugs and 10 others under various sections of the Indian Penal Code.

    The official said that the accused persons allegedly took loans from 11 banks including the Central Bank of India but didn’t repay the money.

    A CBI team also conducted searches on the premises of the accused persons on December 31 and recovered incriminating documents.

    “We recovered cash around Rs 1.58 crore, digital evidence, incriminating documents and other documents from them,” said a senior CBI official.

    He said that the team has recorded the statements of a number of people, and is in process of gathering more evidence against them.

    The Gupta brothers are facing charges under Sections 120-B (criminal conspiracy) and 463 (forgery) of the IPC.

    The CBI official said that the accused have been asked to join the probe and get their statement recorded before the investigating team.

    “We will record their statements on what they have to say over the matter. Once we get more evidence, we will place them under arrest,” said the official.

    He said that the probe in the matter is being done under the supervision of senior officials.

  • CBI books Chandigarh-based drug firm for Rs 1626.74 crore bank fraud, recovers Rs 1.58 crore in cash

    Express News Service

    NEW DELHI: The CBI has booked top executives of Chandigarh-based Parabolic Drugs Ltd for allegedly defrauding a consortium led by the Central Bank of India of Rs 1626.74 crore, officials said Friday.

    Besides the company’s Managing Director Pranav Gupta, the top agency has booked company directors Vineet Gupta, Deepali Gupta, Rama Gupta, Jagjit Singh Chahal, Sanjeev Kumar, Vandana Singla, Ishrat Gill, and its Guarantors TN Goyal and Nirmal Bansal, and one JD Gupta, an official said.

    Following the registration of an FIR, the CBI on Friday conducted searches at 12 locations in Chandigarh, Panchkula, Ludhiana, Faridabad and Delhi at the office and residential premises of the accused, CBI Spokesperson RC Joshi said.

    The raids resulted in the recovery of incriminating documents, articles, and Rs 1.58 crore in cash, he said.

    According to the official, the private company was engaged in the manufacturing of drugs and allegedly defrauded the consortium of banks through criminal conspiracy and forgery, and funnelled loans.

    CBI spokesperson RC Joshi said that the agency registered a case on the complaint received from the Central Bank of India and other member banks against a Chandigarh-based private company and its managing director, directors, guarantors and unknown public servants. The firm had allegedly defrauded the banks to the tune of Rs 1626.74 crore. 

    The accused private company was engaged in the manufacturing of drugs and duped the consortium of banks through criminal conspiracy and forgery

    The accused of the case are M/S Parabolic Drugs Limited, Pranav Gupta (MD), Vineet Gupta (director), Deepali Gupta (director), Rama Gupta (director), Jagjit Singh Chahal (director), Vandana Singla (director), Ishrat Gill (director), JD Gupta, TN Goyal, Nirmal Bansal, some unknown public servants and private persons.

  • Bank fraud: CBI files chargesheet in Rs 6000 crore illegal overseas remittance case

    Express News Service

    NEW DELHI: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has filed two supplementary chargesheets conducting further investigation into a bank fraud under which illegal overseas remittance of about Rs 6000 crore was allegedly made.

    The central agency filed the chargesheets against the accused eight persons and a private company in a CBI court in New Delhi.

    Sharing details, CBI spokesperson RC Joshi said that the agency had registered the case on October 9 in 2015 following a complaint from Bank of Baroda against the accused including 59 current account holders and other unknown public servants and private persons.

    “It was alleged that on the accused had acted in illegal foreign overseas remittances of approximately Rs. 6000 crore ,wherein foreign remittance were made in an illegal and highly irregular manner in gross violation of the established norms and regulations,” Joshi said.  

    The agency’s team during investigation had arrested then-AGM and then-forex Officer, both from Ashok Vihar branch of Bank of Baroda. Thereafter, a chargesheet was filed against the accused on  December 12 in 2015.

    To investigate the role of other accused and the suspects in this financial scam, further investigation of the case was continued by the CBI.

    “During further investigation, it was found that these accounts were allegedly  opened and being operated by a group of persons. They deposited funds in these accounts through RTGS and Cash routed through various accounts through multiple layering and finally remitted the same to overseas accounts as purported advance payments against import of goods and services, whereas no actual imports were made,” an official statement of CBI stated.

    As such, six accused were arrested on October 27 after conducting searches at 14 premises associated with the said accused, which led to recovery of certain incriminating documents.  

  • CBI books Ruchi Global Limited, its directors for Rs 188 crore bank fraud

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: The CBI has filed an FIR against Ruchi Global Limited and its directors for allegedly cheating a consortium of banks led by Bank of Baroda to the tune of Rs 188.35 crore, officials said on Wednesday.

    The agency carried out searches at the premises of the accused at six locations in Indore, Mumbai and Bangalore, they said.

    The agency has booked Ruchi Global Limited and its directors Umesh Shahra, Saket Barodia and Ashutosh Mishra in the case pertaining to the alleged fraud between January 1, 2016 and December 31, 2017.

    It is alleged that the accused fraudulently indulged in diversion of funds, speculation transactions, non-routing of sale proceeds in consortium bank accounts, transactions with related parties/sister concerns, etc., the CBI spokesperson said in a statement.

    The company was doing business with related entities having a common address with directors being employees of the accused company, Bank of Baroda alleged in its complaint, which is now part of the CBI FIR.

    It is alleged that the transactions with these companies were sham to inflate sales figures.

    The accused company allegedly made accounting entries with several firms without having genuine business transactions to divert the borrowed amount through non-fund based facility, it said.

    These accommodating entries helped in increasing higher credit facilities, it alleged.

    The alleged action caused loss of approximately Rs 188.35 crore to the lending banks, the spokesperson said.

  • CBI carries out searches at 100 locations across 11 states in separate bank fraud cases

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Thursday carried out nationwide searches at 100 locations in separate alleged bank fraud cases of over Rs 3,700 crore, officials said.

    The coordinated search operation was spread across 11 states and pertained to 30 FIRs related to bank fraud, they said.

    “These searches are part of a special drive to book fraudsters on the complaints received from different nationalised banks in India. The complainant banks include Indian Overseas Bank, Union Bank of India, Bank of Baroda, Punjab National Bank, State Bank of India, IDBI, Canara Bank, Indian Bank and Central Bank of India,” CBI spokesperson R C Joshi said.

    The searches were spread across Kanpur, Delhi, Ghaziabad, Mathura, Noida, Gurgaon, Chennai, Thiruvarur, Vellore, Tiruppur, Bengaluru, Guntur, Hyderabad, Ballari, Vadodara, Kolkata, West Godavari, Surat, Mumbai, Bhopal, Nimadi, Tirupati Visakhapatnam, Ahmedabad, Rajkot, Karnal, Jaipur and Sri Ganganagar.

    “It may be stated that the CBI has been receiving a number of complaints from various banks alleging cheating, diversion of funds, submission of fake/forged documents by different defaulting firms while obtaining loans/credit facilities etc,” Joshi said.

    The CBI added it was receiving allegations that such firms have been turning defaulters, resulting in the loans becoming Non-Performing Assets (NPAs), thus causing heavy losses to the public sector banks.

    “After scrutiny, the cases are registered by CBI. Thorough investigation is carried out in order to book the culprits, take them to face the law and endeavour to salvage public money,” Joshi said.

  • CBI files two cases for alleged bank fraud of over Rs 220 crore

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: The CBI has registered two separate cases pertaining to alleged bank fraud of over Rs 224 crore and carried out searches at eight locations in NCR and Gujarat, officials said Wednesday.

    The CBI booked Ahmedabad-based power line construction company Archon Engincon Ltd and its Directors for alleged fraud of over Rs 182 crore in the State Bank of India led consortium during 2014-17, they said.

    “It was alleged that during the period from 2014-15 to 2016-17, the accused entered into conspiracy and after availing the said limits, the accused diverted the sanctioned facilities by falsifying books of accounts and issuing bogus invoices and bills and thereby causing loss of Rs 182.37 crore (approx) to SBI,” CBI Spokesperson RC Joshi said.

    During the searches at Ahmedabad and Gurgaon, the CBI recovered Rs 42 lakh cash besides incriminating documents including foreign currency of various countries; details and keys of bank lockers; details of investment in securities, mutual funds and other investment, he said.

    The second case taken up by the CBI pertained to Delhi-based Goyal Engineering Polymers Pvt Ltd on a complaint from Indian Overseas Bank which was allegedly cheated to the tune of over Rs 42 crore, officials said.

    It was alleged that accused directors of the company had defrauded Indian Overseas Bank by giving improper information and falsification of documents, they said.

    “It was further alleged that the firm carried out substantial wrongful transactions with sister concerns/associates showing wrongful use of borrowed funds & diversion of funds to sister concerns, thereby causing loss of Rs 42.72 crore (approx) to the Bank,” Joshi said.

    Searches were conducted at the premises of the accused at three places in Delhi and incriminating documents were recovered, he said.

  • Bank fraud: ED files money laundering case against UP BSP MLA, others

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: The ED has filed a money laundering case against BSP MLA from Uttar Pradesh Vinay Shankar Tiwari and some others to probe an alleged fraud of over Rs 750 crore against a consortium of banks led by the Bank of India (BoI), official sources said on Wednesday.

    The central probe agency’s Lucknow zonal office has filed an ECIR or the enforcement case information report under various sections of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act against the MLA from Chillupar (Gorakhpur) and Gangotri Enterprises, a company based in the Uttar Pradesh capital.

    Tiwari, 54, is the son of former minister and strongman from Gorakhpur Hari Shankar Tiwari.

    The Enforcement Directorate (ED) studied a CBI FIR of October last year filed against Tiwari, his wife Rita, Gangotri Enterprises among others to register its ECIR, the ED equivalent of a police FIR, the sources said.

    The CBI had also carried out raids in Lucknow and Noida after filing this complaint. The alleged fraud perpetrated against the BoI-led consortium of banks involves Rs 754.25 crore.

    According to official sources, the ED’s probe scanner is on at least four instances that led to the alleged “diversion and misappropriation” of the bank funds.

    The company (Gangotri Enterprises) has invested in the group company without major capital contribution from the promotors’ side.

    It created “double charges” in fixed assets, which means that the company mortgaged the same property for availing multiple loans, the ED complaint said.

    It alleged that the accused company mortgaged agricultural land to avail loans but did not change it to non-agricultural land, one of the conditions for availing the loans, despite repeated reminders from the bank.

    “The company has not routed receipts through TRA (trust and retention account) which is also one of the conditions to avail the loan facilities,” it alleged.

    The sources said the agency is now identifying movable and immovable properties of the accused for possible attachment under the PMLA once the primary probe finds money laundering and linked financial irregularities.

    The role of the MLA, his family members, associates and bank officials will also be probed and they are expected to be examined in the coming days, they said.