CBI books food export firm, directors in alleged Rs 819-cr banking fraud

PTI, Jan 24, 2020, 4:09 PM IST

New Delhi: The CBI has booked a Delhi-based food export firm and its directors in alleged fraud of Rs 819 crore and carried out searches on a complaint from SBI on behalf of a consortium of banks, officials said on Thursday.

The agency has alleged that Radikal Foods Limited, which has its office in Saket, and its directors – Siddharth Chaudhary and Anju Chaudhary – availed credit facilities to the tune of Rs 732 crore and cheated SBI and other members of the consortium by way of forgery and using forged documents, they said.

The CBI has filed an FIR against the company and both its directors, and carried out searches at their premises, the officials said.

The consortium comprises State Bank of India (SBI), Indian Overseas Bank, Oriental Bank of Commerce, Exim Bank, Bank of India, IDBI Bank, Bank of Maharashtra, CSB Bank, Vijaya Bank (now Bank of Baroda) and UCO Bank, an official said.

The official said that “an alleged loss of Rs 819.48 crore (approximate) as on April 1, 2018, was caused to the banks.”

The action has been initiated on the SBI’s complaint alleging that the company’s account turned into a non-performing asset in 2015, the officials said, adding that the complaint is part of the FIR.

The bank conducted the forensic audit of the company’s account on August 10 last year and it was found that it had allegedly submitted overstated stock statements and diverted the sanctioned credit limit for other purposes, they said.

Based on a report, the account was declared fraud on August 23 last year, the officials said.

“The company has an average net profit of 17 per cent during the preceding three years. However, after the account was classified as a non-performing asset (NPA), the company booked a loss of 58 per cent as stated above.

“Hence, it appears that the stock was inflated and was sold off at a loss after the account was classified as NPA falling under the definition of fraud,” the complaint said.

It said the accused used inter and intra firm bogus transactions and disposed of primary security that is hypothecated stocks without depositing the proceeds in the loan accounts.

“This way, they all in criminal conspiracy with each other had cheated the bank. Thereby, causing wrongful losses of Rs 816.55 crore to the banks and corresponding wrongful gain to themselves and others,” the complaint said.

In the complaint, SBI said the criminal role of bank officials has not been investigated in the staff accountability report.

Therefore, the possibility of criminal misconduct on the part of bank officials of consortium members may not be ruled out in the case, it said.