Mumbai: The CBI has registered a criminal offence against an Andheri-based firm and its directors for allegedly defrauding State Bank of India to the tune of Rs169 crore. In its FIR, the agency has alleged that the accused colluded and committed illegal activities, including forgery by manipulation and submission of fake financial statement, fabrication of fictitious transactions and diversion of funds, for purposes other than for the purpose for which the funds were released by the bank. The borrower company is in the business of design and manufacture of space frame structures.
The CBI said a written complaint was given on Nov 29 by Suresh Chandra Desh, DGM of SBI, alleging commission of offences by the company. As per the FIR, the company was granted credit facilities by the bank. The fraud took place at SBI, SME Backbay Reclamation Branch between April 2010 and March 2015 from where the accused persons have illegally diverted the funds, manipulated books of accounts with an objective to defraud the Bank and to gain unlawfully at the cost of the Bank's funds. The fraud perpetrated by the accused persons came to light when a forensic audit was conducted.
The account of the said company was classified as fraud by the Fraud Identification Committee, SBI and the account was declared NPA. As per the FIR, the estimated wrongful loss to SBI by the accused is Rs 169 crore (including notional interest). The CBI has registered a case under sections 120B (criminal conspiracy), 420 (cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property) of the Indian Penal Code and relevant sections of the Prevention of Corruption Act.
