The Central Bureau of Investigation has booked Arihant Coal Sales (I) Private Limited and its senior functionaries for allegedly cheating the Bank of Baroda (BoB) to the tune of ₹112.56 crore.
The company is engaged in the wholesale trade of coal. It earlier enjoyed credit facilities from the State Bank of India. In 2010, the company promoters approached the BoB for grant of cash credit limit of ₹30 crore, standby line of credit of ₹5 crore and inland/foreign letters of credit of ₹45 crore. The loans were sanctioned in November 2010. Subsequently, the limits were enhanced twice.
The loan account was in order till August 10, 2017, but then eight letters of credit amounting to ₹90 crore devolved one after the other till January 2018, following which it was classified a non-performing asset.
The sudden devolvement of the letters of credit raised suspicion and a forensic audit of the account was ordered by the bank. The report was submitted in February 2018 and thereafter, the fraud angle was also probed. In both the reports, diversion/siphoning of funds, manipulation in the financial data submitted to the bank and various irregularities in foreign exchange transactions were found, it is alleged.
As it turned out, the sale proceeds of the goods procured through the inland/foreign letters of credit were realised through various accounts opened by the company with other banks. The funds were then siphoned off, and on the due date of payments, the letters of credit devolved due to insufficient funds in the company’s account.
It is alleged that the company maintained current accounts with several other banks without permission from the lender. Then, there were dubious transactions of the company with various entities.
