CBI FIR against Guj shipping firm for Rs. 23000 cr bank fraud

The CBI has filed an FIR against a Gujarat-based shipping firm and its directors for allegedly duping a consortium of banks of Rs 22,842 crore. The agency also conducted searches at 13 premises of the accused company and its officials located at Surat, Bharuch, Mumbai and Pune, which led to recovery of incriminating documents.

The agency has named ABG Shipyard and its directors Rishi Kamlesh Agarwal, Santhanam Muthaswamy, Ashwini Kumar, Sushil Agarwal,  and ABG International Pvt Ltd as accused in the FIR. The CBI is also probing the role of public servants and bank officials in the fraud. This is one of the biggest fraud cases being probed by the anti-graft agency in terms of money siphoned in a single case, sources said. The CBI filed the FIR on a complaint from the State Bank of India for allegedly causing a massive loss to the exchequer.

“It was alleged that the said accused had cheated the consortium of 28 banks including the 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 etc. The consortium of 28 banks was led by ICICI Bank,” CBI spokesperson RC Joshi said. ABG Shipyard, which is based at Surat, was engaged in the business of shipbuilding and ship repair.

As per the CBI’s FIR, the firm – which is estimated to have constructed over 160 vessals – owed Rs 7,089 crore to ICICI bank, Rs 3,634 crore to IDBI Bank, Rs 2,925 crore to SBI, Rs 1,614 crore to Bank of Baroda and over Rs 1,200 crore to Punjab National Bank and Indian Overseas Bank.