The CBI has filed an FIR against a shipping firm and its directors for allegedly duping a consortium firm to the tune of Rs 22,842 crore.
The agency has booked ABG Shipyard and its directors Rishi Agarwal, Santhanam Muthuswamy, and Ashwini Kumar two years after the company was declared a “fraud account” by the banks.
It is one of the biggest bank fraud (bigger than Punjab National Bank scam involving Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi) cases which the CBI will be investigating.
According to the FIR filed on complaint of State Bank of India (SBI), the forensic audit report revealed that from April 2012 to July 2017, the accused colluded with each other and committed illegal activities including diversion of funds, misappropriation, and criminal breach of trust and for purposes other than for the purpose for which the funds are released by the bank.
The account had become non-performing asset in July 2016 with effect from November 30, 2013.
“Searches have been conducted on 13 premises of the accused persons in Surat, Bharuch, Mumbai and other places. Further legal proceedings are being initiated,” said a CBI official.
ABG Shipyard, a flagship company of the ABG Group, is in the business of ship building and repair. Promoted by Mr. Rishi Agarwal, it is a major player in the Indian ship building industry. Its shipyards are located at Dahej and Surat in Gujarat. The company has the capacity to build vessels up to 18,000-dead weight tonnage at the Surat shipyard and 1.20-lakh dead weight tonnage at the Dahej unit.
The company has constructed over 165 vessels, including 46 for export market, in the past 16 years. They included specialised vessels such as newsprint carriers, self-discharging and loading bulk cement carriers, floating cranes, interceptor boats, dynamic positioning diving support vessels, pusher tugs and flotilla for leading companies in India and abroad. The ships have got class approval of all the international classification societies.
(With inputs from agencies)
