CBI books ABG shipping for cheating 28 banks of Rs 22,842 crore

In its biggest bank fraud case,the CBI has filed a case against ABG Shipyard Ltd, one of the largest private sector shipping companies in the country, for allegedly cheating a consortium of 28 banks and financial institutions led by ICICI Bank to the tune of  Rs 22,842 crore, the largest amount in a single bank fraud case ever. mThe agency has named ABG Shipyard Ltd’s Chairman-cum-Managing Director – Rishi Kamlesh Agarwal, executive director – Santhanam Muthaswamy and three other directors – Ashwini Kumar, Sushil Kumar Agarwal and Ravi Vimal Nevetia in its First Information Report (FIR) filed on February 7 under criminal conspiracy, cheating and Prevention of Corruption Act.

According to the complaint filed by the State Bank of India, SBI,in the matter, the total exposure of 28 banks and financial institutions as on date is  Rs 22,842 crore, out of which the ABG owes highest amount – Rs 7,089 crore to the ICICI Bank, Rs 3,639 crore to IDBI Bank, Rs 2,925 crore to SBI, Rs 1,614 crore to Bank of Baroda, Rs1,244 crore to Punjab National Bank and so on. A forensic audit carried out by Ernst & Young revealed that between April 2012 and July 2017, the accused persons collided together and committed illegal activities including diversion of funds, misappropriation and criminal breach of trust. The loan account was declared as non-performing asset (NPA) in July 2016.

SBI says the ABG was referred to the National Company Law Tribunal and a Resolution Professional was appointed. The CBI FIR states that role of public servants needs to be investigated in the matter. The company is learnt to have constructed over 165 vessels, including 46 for export market, in the last 16 years.