CBI Books Aurangabad-Based Firm For Cheating Banks

Mumbai: The CBI has registered a case against an Aurangabad-based limited liability partnership firm for allegedly defrauding a consortium of banks to the tune of Rs 135.27 crore. The bank in its complaint has alleged that after availing the credit facilities, the borrowers misappropriated and diverted the loan amount by siphoning of funds and causing loss to banks.

Sanat Kumar Satapathy, DGM, Bank of India, Pune, filed a written complaint on February 28, 2022 alleging that from 2015 to 2018, the firm through its six partners and unknown public servants of Bank of India and others, with an intention to cheat the banks in consortium by fraudulently misappropriated the credit facilities.

About the Firm and its Loans

The firm is engaged in the extraction of oil from soya, cotton and other seeds. In 2015, the partners of the firm approached the Bank of India for credit facilities. They had also approached three other banks after which it was agreed between the bankers to form the consortium to be led by Bank of India. The credit of Rs124.40 crore was sanctioned to the firm.

The bank in its complaint alleged that the firm through its partners did not fulfill their commitments of servicing the dues or routing the required turnover from the business. The account was classified as NPA from July 29, 2018 by Bank of India while the accounts with other three consortium lenders also slipped into NPA on May 31, 2018 and September 30, 2018. After the account was classified as NPA, Bank of India had appointed an auditor in Mumbai, to conduct a forensic audit from September 1, 2015 to June 30, 2018.

Audit reveals Multiple Fund Diversions

The audit revealed that the firm through its partners allegedly misappropriated and diverted the bank’s funds in connivance with six entities (traders) wherein discrepancies in documents supporting transactions and movement of merchandise were observed.