CBI searches 187 places in bank fraud cases

The CBI on Tuesday carried out searches at over 187 locations in several states and union territories in connection with alleged bank frauds to the tune of Rs 7,200 crore.

A senior CBI official said the agency conducted searches in Andhra Pradesh, Chandigarh, Delhi, Gujarat, Haryana, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Punjab, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Dadra & Nagar Haveli.

The official said the agency has registered around 42 cases of frauds involving Rs 7,200 crore.

The banks involved (including consortium members) are Andhra Bank, Oriental Bank of Commerce, Indian Overseas Bank, SBI, Allahabad Bank, Canara Bank, Dena Bank, Punjab & Sind Bank, Punjab National Bank, Central Bank of India, Union Bank of India, IDBI Bank, Bank of Baroda, Bank of Maharashtra and Bank of India.

The official said the agency carried out searches in Delhi, Gurugram, Chandigarh, Ludhiana, Dehradun, Noida, Baramati, Mumbai, Thane, Silvassa, Kalyan, Amritsar, Faridabad, Bengaluru, Tirupur, Chennai, Madurai, Quilon, Cochin, Bhavnagar, Surat, Ahmedabad, Kanpur, Ghaziabad, Varanasi, Chandauli, Bhatinda, Gurdaspur, Morena, Kolkata, Patna, Krishna, Hyderabad and Bhopal.

The official said that out of these 42 cases, four cases pertain to more than Rs 1,000 crore and 11 cases of fraud amount of Rs 100 crore to Rs 1,000 crore.

He said the prominent cases registered include a case against a Malad (East) Mumbai/Bhopal based private company, its five directors/additional director/guarantors and unknown public servants on the allegations that they engaged in bulk trading of agro commodities in connivance with unknown bank officials and others.

They fraudulently availed credit facilities of Rs 6,000 crore from SBI, Bhopal, by resorting to falsification of accounts and forgery of documents.

The company allegedly siphoned the funds and defaulted in payment of the dues and caused a loss of Rs 1,266.63 crore to the bank.

The official said one case has been registered against two private companies based at Nehru Place in New Delhi, its chairman, managing director, director and other unknown public servants or private persons.

He said it was alleged that the directors and guarantors engaged in engineering procurement and construction in connivance with unknown bank officials and others and fraudulently availed credit facilities of Rs 1,290 crore from SBI by resorting to falsification of accounts and forgery of documents.

"The company allegedly siphoned off the funds and defaulted in payment of the dues and caused loss of Rs 1,100.73 crore to the bank," he said.

The official pointed out that another case has been registered against Chennai-based private company, its promoter, managing director and seven other office-bearers, including Chief Accounts officer and unknown public servants and others on the complaint of IDBI Bank Ltd on behalf of other consortium member banks for cheating and causing loss of Rs 1,083.14 crore to the banks.

He said the banks involved in the frauds (including consortium members) are Andhra Bank, Oriental Bank of Commerce, Indian Overseas Bank, SBI, Allahabad Bank, Canara Bank, Dena Bank, Punjab and Sind Bank, Punjab National Bank, Central Bank of India, Union Bank of India, IDBI Bank, Bank of Baroda, Bank of Maharashtra, Bank of India.

He said it was alleged that the accused persons have conspired with each other and cheated IDBI Bank and other consortium member banks in the matter of availing and utilisation of the credit facilities sanctioned.

"In pursuance of the conspiracy, the company manipulated its books of accounts by making fictitious entries based on false documents and submitted false and manipulated financial statements to the consortium of banks for availing the credit facilities. The sanctioned amounts were utilised and diverted for purposes other than for which the same were released by way of fictitious transactions," he said.

The official further said that the central probe agency registered a case against Chairman and Directors of a Varanasi-based private company and unknown public servants on the allegations of submitting wrong stock statement and balance sheet to induce Bank of Baroda for fraudulent and dishonest availment/sanction of bank loan.

The official also alleged that the company has allegedly defrauded Bank of Baroda to the tune of Rs 518.44 crore as on December 31, 2018.

He pointed out that the said company has also defrauded Punjab National Bank to the tune of Rs 517.99 crore adopting the same modus-operandi.

This is not the first time the Central probe agency has carried out such a massive search operation. It has conducted several similar searches in bank fraud cases over the last few months.

( With inputs from IANS )