Mumbai: A special CBI court in Mumbai recently rejected a few bail applications in the Rs 292-crore bank loan scam of Indian Overseas Bank, Nariman Point branch. The fraud was perpetrated using false and fabricated documents by a few of the 26 accused named by the investigating agency. The accused who have been denied bail are Chetan Pabari, Premal Goragandhi and Kantilal Shah.
The accused had allegedly forged the documents to siphon funds of the bank consortium comprising State Bank of India, Exim Bank, Punjab and National Bank, Union Bank of India and Bank of Baroda, under the leadership of Indian Overseas Bank; the consortium’s loans totalled 753 crore. Indian Overseas Bank had granted a loan of Rs 292 crore, but being a leader of the consortium, maintained the account of all other banks.
The key accused named in the chargesheet by the CBI are M/s Parekh Aluminex Ltd chairman and managing director, late Amitabh Arun Parekh, Deepen Arun Parekh, Arun Kantilal Parekh, Chetan Pabari, chartered accountant M/s Sikkim Ferro Alloys Ltd, M/s Gorla Infrastructure, M/s J Bhagwati Impex, M/s J Shelters Pvt. Ltd, M/s Trisons Metalex Pvt Ltd (now M/s Stainless Metalex Pvt Ltd), Kamlesh Kanungo, Kirti Vishwanath Kedia, M/s Bhumika Foils Pvt Ltd, M/s Bhushan Foils Pvt Ltd, Devkrishna Gandhi, Premal Goragandhi, M/s Bhagyoday Ferro Alloys Pvt Ltd, M/s Suryakiran Ferro Alloys Pvt Ltd, M/s Rockford Structure Pvt Ltd, Kantilal Shah, Jitendra Kantilal Shah, Pujit Aggarwal, Manuprasad Trivedi, N Sai Prasad (public servant), P Narsimha Rao, Indian Overseas Bank assistant general manager Nandkishor Badsiwal and bank manager Anil Kumar.
Amitabh Parekh succumbed to cancer on January 6, 2013, and CBI sources said his brother forged documents to get loans sanctioned in the name of M/s Parekh Aluminex, along with his manager.
The CBI has claimed that the accused were privy to conspiracy and committed economic offence causing wrongful loss to the consortium arrangement of the nationalised bank to the tune of crores of rupees. The defence argued that Chetan Pabari signed as a statutory auditor in 2012, the other accused Premal Goragandhi, Kantilal Shah, Jitendra Shah are not beneficiaries of proceeds of crime and should be granted bail.
CBI special court observed that cases relating to economic offences cause loss of public money and are punishable offences. It particularly mentioned Pabari, who audited the books of accounts of Parekh Aluminex since inception of the company to 2012, and “fabricated audited records to show inflated turnover, sale, purchase, profit figures in the balance sheet in a systematic manner to avoid detection”.
Accused Premal Goragandhi, director of M/s Suryakiran Ferro Alloys Pvt Ltd, fraudulently showed purchase of raw material by opening Letter of Credit in the name of M/s Suryakiran Ferro Alloys for nearly Rs 36 crore. “Letter of Credits were discounted by Goragandhi to facilitate Parekh family to siphon off loan proceeds,” the court observed.
CBI investigation has proved that no raw material was supplied to Parekh Aluminex and false bills and invoices were used to siphon off the amount. Kantilal Shah and Jitendra Shah, directors of M/s Rockford structures Pvt Ltd, and authorised signatory of M/s Mercury Metal Industry received Rs 70.84 crore from the loan accounts of Parekh Aluminex without any underlined business and were the ultimate beneficiaries of proceeds of crime.
