The Central Bureau of Investigation on Saturday filed a case against Gujarat-based shipbuilding company ABG Shipyard and its directors for allegedly defrauding a consortium of banks of Rs 22,842 crore, PTI reported.
The agency has booked former Managing Director Rishi Agarwal, Executive Director Santhanam Muthuswamy, and directors Ashwini Kumar, Sushil Kumar Agarwal and Ravi Vimal Nevetia in the case. The Central Bureau of Investigation has accused them of criminal conspiracy, cheating, criminal breach of trust and abuse of official position.
“Searches were conducted on Saturday at 13 locations in the premises of [the] accused [persons]...which led to [the] recovery of incriminating documents,” the agency said, according to PTI.
The Central Bureau of Investigation claimed that the company used funds from banks for purposes other than those for which they had been released.
The complaint in the case was filed by the State Bank of India, saying that the company owes it Rs 2,925 crore, NDTV reported. The firm also allegedly owes Rs 7,089 crore to the ICICI Bank, Rs 3,634 to the IDBI Bank, Rs 1,614 crore to Bank of Baroda, Rs 1,244 crore to the Punjab National Bank and Rs 1,228 crore to the Indian Overseas Bank.
The Central Bureau of Investigation quoted a report by global accounting firm Ernst & Young to allege that the accused persons colluded to divert and misappropriate funds. This is reportedly the biggest bank fraud case that the central agency has registered.
ABG’s shipyards are located at Dahej and Surat in Gujarat. The firm has built more than 165 vessels in the past 16 years, including specialised ones like newsprint carriers and self-discharging and loading bulk cement carriers.
The Congress on Sunday alleged that the case showed “complicity, collusion and connivance of those sitting in the highest echelons of power in the Modi government”. Party spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said that the accused persons in the ABG Shipyards case have joined those named in other large-scale fraud cases such as Nirav Modi, Mehul Choksi and Vijay Mallya.
Surjewala said that Congress had given a warning about the alleged scam on February 15, 2018. He noted that the liquidation process of the company for bank default had begun on August 1, 2017, and questioned why it took five years after that for an FIR to be lodged.
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