The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Saturday filed a charge sheet against former ABG Shipyard Chairman Rishi Agarwal and 24 others in a Rs 23,000-crore bank fraud case.
New Delhi [India], September 21 (ANI): The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Wednesday arrested the Chairman and Managing Director of Surat-based ABG Shipyard for allegedly cheating a consortium of banks led by State Bank of India of over Rs 22,842 crore.
New Delhi Apr 26 PTI The Enforcement Directorate ED on Tuesday raided multiple premises in Mumbai Pune and Surat in connection with a money laundering probe against ABG Shipyard Ltd in an alleged Rs 22842 crore bank loan fraud case officials said As many as 26 premises are being searched in these cities by the federal agency under the criminal sections of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act PMLA they saidThe searches are being conducted to gather financial documents and related information of the company and its former promoters and linked persons officials statedThe ED had filed a money laundering case in February after studying a CBI FIR against the former promoters of the ship building company apart from a forensic audit report prepared on the operations of the groupThe CBI had booked ABG Shipyard Ltd and its then chairman and managing director Rishi Kamlesh Agarwal along with others for allegedly cheating a consortium of banks of over Rs 22842 croreIt had also named the then executive director Santhanam Muthaswamy directors Ashwini Kumar Sushil Kumar Agarwal and Ravi Vimal Nevetia and another company ABG International Pvt Ltd for alleged offences of criminal conspiracy cheating criminal breach of trust and abuse of official position under the Indian Penal Code IPC and the Prevention of Corruption Act The ED is looking into the charges of alleged diversion of bank loan funds creation of shell firms to launder public money and the role of the executives of the company and othersInstances of huge investments being made in the overseas subsidiary of the company by diverting the loans will also form an essential part of the ED probe officials had told PTI after the PMLA case was bookedThe agency is also empowered to attach assets of the accused once the charges of money laundering and layering of funds are establishedThe loans given to the company include categories like CC cash credit loan term loan letter of credit bank guarantee etcThe CBI FIR came about after the State Bank of India SBI first filed a complaint with it on November 8 2019 after which the agency sought some clarifications on March 12 2020The bank filed a fresh complaint in August that year After scrutinising the complaint for over one-and-a-half years the CBI filed an FIR on February 7The company was sanctioned credit facilities from 28 banks and financial institutions led by ICICI Bank with the SBI having exposure of Rs 246851 croreA forensic audit by Ernst and Young showed that between 2012 and 2017 the accused colluded and committed illegal activities including diversion of funds misappropriation and criminal breach of trust the CBI had saidThe CBI had said in a statement that the funds bank loans were used by the company and its promoters for purposes other than for which they were released by banksThe loan account was declared a non-performing asset NPA in July 2016 and a fraud in 2019In its complaint the SBI said ABG Shipyard Ltd ABGSL is the flagship company of the ABG Group which engaged in the business of shipbuilding and ship-repairThe ABGSL being a major player in Indian shipbuilding industry operates from shipyards that are located at Dahej and Surat in Gujarat with a capacity to build vessels up to 18000 dead weight tonnage DWT at Surat Shipyard and 120000 dead weight tonnage DWT at Dahej ShipyardThe company has constructed over 165 vessels including 46 for export market in the last 16 years including specialised vessels like newsprint carriers self-discharging and loading bulk cement carriers floating cranes etc with class approval of all international classification societies like Lloyds American Bureau of Shipping Bureau Veritas IRS DNV the complaint saidGlobal crisis has impacted the shipping industry due to fall in commodity demand and prices and subsequent fall in cargo demand The cancellation of contracts for few ships and vessels resulted in piling up of inventory This has resulted in paucity of working capital and caused significant increase in the operating cycle thereby aggravating the liquidity problem and financial problem the SBI complaint saidIt added there was no demand of commercial vessels as the industry was going through a downturn even in 2015 which was further aggravated due to lack of defence orders making it difficult for the company to maintain re-payment scheduleThe company has already been referred to the NCLT Ahmedabad by the ICICI Bank for corporate insolvency resolution process it said PTI NES DV DV
New Delhi Feb 21 PTI Former Chairman and Managing Director of ABG Shipyard Ltd Rishi Agarwal appeared before the CBI on Monday for questioning in connection with the Rs 22848 crore alleged banking fraud the biggest such case registered by the central agency officials said The CBI had questioned him last week as well and would continue to record his statement in the coming days on various aspects of alleged diversion of funds as pointed out in the forensic audit conducted by banks they said The central probe agency had registered an FIR in the matter on February 7 2022 on a complaint filed by SBI 17 months ago on August 25 2020 The agency has also named the then executive director Santhanam Muthaswamy directors Ashwini Kumar Sushil Kumar Agarwal and Ravi Vimal Nevetia and another company ABG International Pvt Ltd for alleged offences of criminal conspiracy cheating criminal breach of trust and abuse of official position under the Indian Penal Code IPC and the Prevention of Corruption Act they said Immediately after filing the FIR the CBI had conducted searches at 13 locations on February 12 Officials claimed they had received several incriminating documents such as books of accounts of the accused borrower company which were being scrutinised The bank had first filed a complaint on November 8 2019 on which the central investigation agency had sought some clarifications on March 12 2020 The bank filed a fresh complaint in August that year After scrutinising for over one-and-a-half-years the CBI acted on the complaint filing an FIR on February 7 2022 Officials said the matter was big with voluminous data and records as 28 banks were involved and needed verification before moving with an FIR They said the company had allegedly diverted funds to a lot of companies which also needed detailed scrutiny The company was sanctioned credit facilities from 28 banks and financial institutions led by ICICI Bank with SBI having exposure of Rs 246851 crore they said A forensic audit by Ernst Young has shown that between 2012 and 2017 the accused colluded together and committed illegal activities including diversion of funds misappropriation and criminal breach of trust they said It is the biggest bank fraud case registered by the CBI Funds were used for purposes other than for which they were released by banks it said PTI ABS SMN SMN
New Delhi [India], February 16 (ANI): Accusing the Congress of involvement in ABG Shipyard scam, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Wednesday said the grand old party and corruption maintain a good relationship.
New Delhi [India], February 15 (ANI): The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Tuesday has issued Look Out Circulars (LOCs) against ABG Shipyard, the flagship firm of the ABG Group and some of its top executives to prevent them from leaving the country due to their alleged involvement in a bank fraud case of over Rs 22,842 crore.
New Delhi [India], February 14 (ANI): Union Finance Minister Nirmal Sitharaman on Monday said the lending by a consortium of banks to ABG Shipyard had turned a non-performing asset (NPA) before Prime Minister Narendra Modi government came to power in 2014, adding that the banks have done a commendable job in detecting the fraud.
Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], February 13 (ANI): After CBI registered an FIR against ABG Shipyard and its directors for allegedly cheating 28 banks of Rs 22,842 crores, State Bank of India managing director, risk compliance and stressed assets resolution group, Swaminathan Janakiraman on Sunday said that the necessary efforts were attempted by various banks to revive the company, however, it was found that the promoters have indulged in the diversion of funds taken as loans after which the account was classified as fraud.
New Delhi [India], February 12 (ANI): The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) registered an FIR against ABG Shipyard and its directors for allegedly duping 28 banks of Rs 22,842 crore.
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