Acting on a complaint lodged by the Oriental Bank of Commerce (OBC), the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Sunday registered a case against 13 senior officials, including Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh's son-in law Gurpal Singh, of Uttar Pradesh based Simbhaoli Sugar Ltd for allegedly defaulting loan worth Rs 110 crore.
Apart from Singh who holds the position of Deputy General Manager at the private firm, the agency has booked 12 others, including Simbhaoli Sugars’ Chairman Gurmit Singh Mann, CEO G S C Rao, CFO Sanjay Tapriya, Executive Director Gursimran Kaur Mann, reported The Indian Express.
It was alleged that the OBC had sanctioned a loan amounting to Rs.148.60 crore in 2011 to the said private company. The FIR lodged by the investigating agency says there were two loans sanctioned from the same bank.
The persons are booked under 420 & 409 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Sec. 13(2) r/w 13(1)(d) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 for causing a loss to the bank.
The loan was sanctioned for financing individual / joint liability groups (JLG) / self help groups (SLG) / sugarcane farmers in a tie-up arrangement under the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) scheme to 5,762 sugarcane farmers supplying sugar produce to the said private company, from January 25 2012 to March 13 2012, which was dishonestly and fraudulently diverted by the company for its own needs.
The account turned a non-performing asset (NPA) on March 31, 2015, and was later declared as an alleged fraud of Rs. 97.85 crore. The bank intimated the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on May 13, 2015, about the fraud.
It is further alleged that in addition to the existing NPA, the bank, under multiple banking arrangements sanctioned another corporate loan of Rs.110 crore to the said private sugar company on January 28, 2015, to pay its outstanding loan of Rs. 97.85 crore.
The OBC adjusted the total liability of Rs. 112,94,99,471 of the said private company on June 30, 2016, by way of deposit of this new corporate loan.
The corporate loan, too, turned NPA on November 29, 2016.
The bank had complained to the CBI on November 17, 2017 but the agency registered the case only on February 22 this year, added the report.
Search was being conducted on Sunday at eight premises including the residence of directors, factory, corporate office and the registered offices of the company in Delhi, Hapur, and Noida.
With ANI Inputs
