Mumbai: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Wednesday raided multiple locations in the city, which are linked to the GTL Ltd and GTL Infra, in connection with a bank fraud case. The firms provide infrastructure, maintenance and support for telecom towers and telecom-related infrastructure.
The GTL had allegedly unlawfully acquired loans from a bank consortium of about 24 lenders and then conspired with vendors and some bank employees to siphon off Rs4,760 crore of the loan amount.
FIR registered against company in January 2023
Earlier in January, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had registered a first information report (FIR) against directors of the GTL Ltd and others for allegedly defrauding the consortium of banks. The company was availing the credit facilities of more than Rs4,760 crore from a consortium of 24 banks, with the lDBI being the lead bank. The agency has alleged in its FIR that loan facilities were obtained by misrepresentation that loan amount shall be utilised for business activity of M/s GTL Limited but soon after disbursement, majority of the debt was not utilised for the purpose for which it was granted.
The CBI probe had revealed that besides generating Rs1,400 crore from non-convertible debentures, M/s GTL Ltd availed the credit facilities of over Rs4,760 crore from the consortium between 2009 and 2012.
The Forensic audit of the firm revealed that it had paid advances to the tune of over Rs1,142 crore to vendors for the procurement of materials, however, the materials procured out of the payment were minimal. The funds transferred to create vendors were also diverted back to GTL Ltd, whereas the firm showed losses in its balance sheets. The GTL Infrastructure has a debt of Rs6,142 crore, while the GTL has borrowed GTL Rs4,383 crore, according to the company's last annual report.
However, Mumbai bankruptcy court dismissed the Canara Bank's 2022 petition to admit both the firms for corporate insolvency. The court observed that the corporate debtor claims – amounting to thousands of crore rupees – from various telcos would be sufficient to pay the debt of the lenders.
About GTL Infra
GTL Limited was incorporated on December 23, 1987, as a private limited company and was converted into a public limited company on September 12, 1991. lt is engaged in the business of providing telecom network deployment services, operations and maintenance services, professional services, network planning and design services, and energy management services to telecom operators in India and international markets.
During the course of enquiry, it is revealed that besides generating Rs 1400 crore from Non-convertible Debentures (NCDs), M/s GTL Ltd availing the credit facilities of over Rs 4760 crore from consortium of 24 banks, lDBI being the lead bank.
