IDBI Bank’s K G Marg Branch in Delhi (Pradeep Gaur/Mint via Getty Images)The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) today (26 April) charged 15 former and current officials of IDBI Bank along with 24 others that include Aircel founder C Sivasankaran and 11 companies and their founders for their alleged role in duping the bank of Rs 600 crore, reports The Hindu. The agency says that they committed the fraud though loan accounts of British Virgin Islands-based Axcel Sunshine Limited and Win Wind Oy in Finland.
Once a first information report (FIR) was registered, the CBI conducted searches across 50 premises across Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Gandhinagar, Faridabad, Belagavi, Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Pune and Jaipur.
Among the accused banking officals are M S Raghavan, then CMD of IDBI, Kishore Kharat, former CMD IDBI and the incumbent CMD and CEO of Indian Bank, former Deputy Managing Directorof IDBI B K Batra, and former DMD M O Rego, currently MD and CEO of Syndicate Bank.
The CBI named Sivasankaran – a citizen of Seychelles – as an accused by virtue of him being the chairman of the Siva Group which was also named in the FIR.
In flagrant violation of the Reserve Bank of India regulatory guideline on foreign investments in India, this is a case of alleged fraud by the executives of the bank, promoters of the group of companies involved to derive wrongful gains and cause corresponding loss of about Rs 600 crore to the bankA senior CBI official
In October 2010, IDBI had sanctioned loans worth Rs 322 crore to Win Wind Oy which later on filed for bankruptcy in Finland in 2013, resulting in it being declared a non-performing asset (NPA). In February 2014, Rs 523 crore had been sanctioned to Axcel Sunshine, an associate of the Siva Group. Siva Investments and Holdings Limited, a Seychelles-based firm is the holding company in Win Wind Oy.
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