Mumbai: CBI Court Jails Woman Director For 3 Years, Fines Her ₹1 Crore In 2008 Vijaya Bank Loan Fraud Case

Mumbai: In a 2008 loan fraud case involving Vijaya Bank, the special CBI court, in a rare instance, has imposed a fine of Rs 1 crore on the accused firm’s woman director, Anitha Mathias, and sentenced her to three years in jail. The court also held assistant general manager of the bank’s Goregaon branch, Shridhar Shetty, guilty, sentencing him to one year in jail and imposing a fine of Rs 50,000.

However, the court acquitted the manager of Bharat Cooperative Bank, Mahesh Kotian, for want of evidence. The case against the key accused, Maxima Mathias, Anitha’s husband and director of Roshan Electrical Pvt Ltd, was abated as he died pending trial.

About The Case

The case was lodged by the Economic Offences Wing branch of CBI, Mumbai, in March 2012. It is claimed that the case came to light after the bank launched an inquiry on the receipt of an anonymous complaint. As per the prosecution, Roshan Electrical maintained its accounts with Bharat Cooperative Bank, Mumbai, since its inception. It had a cash credit limit of Rs 12 crore and also a bank guarantee facility.

In 2008, Maxim Mathias, approached Vijaya Bank’s Goregaon branch, requesting for takeover of the account from Bharat Cooperative Bank. He sought a cash credit limit of Rs 30 crore and a bank guarantee of Rs 10 crore. Shetty sanctioned the takeover with Rs 20 crore cash credit and Rs 10 lakh as bank guarantee. Vijaya Bank’s regional office approved the proposal as it had Bharat Cooperative Bank’s positive confidential report attached. Kotian allegedly suppressed the details about the firm’s four sister concerns and the number of dishonoured cheques of Roshan Electrical.

It was also alleged that while taking over the account, a term deposit of Rs 3 crore maintained with Bharat Co-op Bank was to be transferred to Vijaya Bank before loan disbursal. However, it is claimed that although Rs 13.02 crore was sanctioned towards the takeover of the account, Shetty disbursed Rs 21 crore without obtaining the transfer of term deposit. It was also alleged that instead of releasing Rs 13.20 crore, Shetty released Rs 21,08 crore.

During the arguments, Anitha Mathias claimed she was falsely implicated. Even Shetty claimed he was made a scapegoat. However, the court held that “Anitha was actively involved in the firm’s management”. The court rejected Shetty’s defence too and said he was part of the conspiracy. The court said that the CBI officer did not carry out investigation into the role Kotian allegedly played in actively concealing the facts, including withholding the facts about the sister concerns of Roshan Electrical.

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