Rs 22,842 Cr bank fraud: ABG Shipyard Ex-chairman Rishi Aggarwal reaches CBI HQ

Mumbai: In a latest development in the Rs 22,842 crore bank fraud allegedly committed by ABG Shipyard company, its main promoter and fomrer chairman Rishi Kamlesh Aggarwal reached the CBI headquarters on Monday to get his statement recorded.

Earlier, he was grilled on February 17 by the federal probe agency and was again summoned to join the probe on Monday.

Rishi Kamlesh Aggarwal reached CBI headquarters along with his counsel Vijay Aggarwal’s legal team.

“Rishi responded to our summon. He has joined the probe. Our team of elite officials are questioning him. He will be questioned for the second time in connection with the case,” a CBI official told IANS.

Rishi will be confronted with others and a few documents.

The CBI had recently issued a lookout circular (LOC) against Rishi and eight others connected to the case.

The CBI had recently revealed a shocking fact that there were around 100 high value bank fraud cases that could not be registered due to non- accordance of specific consent u/s 6 of DSPE Act by the state governments where the general consent has been withdrawn

The CBI has seized incriminating documents, i.e account books of ABG shipyards, its sale-purchase details, minutes of Board meetings, share registers, contract files.

Also, the bank account details of ABG Shipyards and related parties have been obtained. Subsequently, lookout circular (LOC) against the accused have already been issued by the CBI. Earlier, State Bank of India had also got the LOC issued against the main accused in 2019. In the instant case, there are 28 banks involved in consortium with huge amounts of disbursement.

There were different kinds of bank loans, including CC Loan, Term Loan, Letter of Credit, Bank Guarantee, etc., that were given as advance by the banks.

The fraud is primarily on account of huge fund transfers by ABG Shipyard Ltd to its related parties and subsequently making adjustment entries. It is also alleged that investments were made in its overseas subsidiary by diverting the bank loans, and funds were diverted to purchase assets in the name of its related parties.

“They took a loan of Rs 1,228 from Indian Overseas Bank, Rs 1,244 crore from Punjab National Bank, Rs 1,614 crore from Bank of Baroda, Rs 7,089 crore from ICICI Bank and Rs 3,634 crore from IDBI Bank. Later they didn’t pay the bank their dues. Initially, the bank initiated an internal inquiry in which it was found that the company was cheating the consortium of Banks by diverting funds to different entities,” said the CBI.

The CBI official said that ABG Shipyard Ltd has been in business with SBI since 2001. The account of ABG Shipyard turned NPA on November 30, 2013. As per the Bank complaint, the NPA is to the tune of Rs 22,842 crore and the majority of the disbursement happened between 2005 and 2012 by a consortium of 28 banks led by ICICI Bank and including SBI.

The account was restructured under CDR mechanism on March 27, 2014. However, the operations of the company could not be revived.

On September 10, 2014, N.V. Dand and Associates was deputed to conduct a stock audit of ABG Shipyard Ltd. The Audit Firm submitted its report on April 30, 2016 and observed various faults on the part of the accused company. Subsequently, the account of ABG Shipyard Ltd was declared NPA.

In keeping with a policy implemented since 2014 of red-flagging suspect accounts, commissioning forensic audits by empanelled forensic auditors, and making CMDs liable, a forensic audit was initiated based on the lenders’ decision in the Joint Lenders Meeting dated 10 April 2018.

Ernst & Young LLP was appointed Forensic Auditor. As per the usual practice, these forensic audits cover a period starting approximately three to four years prior to the date of declaration of NPA, which, in this case, was 2016.

The forensic audit of ABG Shipyard Ltd, therefore, covers the period from 2012 to 2017. Meanwhile, the company ABGSL was also referred to NCLT, Ahmedabad on August 1, 2017 by ICICI Bank, being lead bank, for Corporate Insolvency Resolution Process(CIRP). In between April 2019 to March 2020, various Banks of the consortium declared the account of ABG Shipyard as fraud.

The CBI is investigating this biggest fraud committed by any company so far. (IANS)