CBI arrests 2 retired Bank of India officials in Rs2,654-cr loan fraud

CBO arrested V V Agnihotri (retired GM) and P K Srivastava (retired DGM), for allegedly granting undue favours to the company in granting credit limits. CBO officials said both will be produced before special court in Ahmedabad tomorrow.

The promoters of the company were arrested in April this year.

The CBI had, in April this year, filed an FIR against promoters of DPIL, Suresh Bhatnagar and his sons Amit Bhatnagar and Sumit Bhatnagar,  for allegedly cheating a consortium of 11 banks.

The company allegedly availed loans despite the fact that it was named in the RBI’s defaulters’ list and the Export Credit Guarantee Corporation (ECGC) caution list.this, according to CBI officials, couldn't have been possible without the involvement of bank officials.

DPIL, engaged in manufacturing electrical cables and other electrical equipment, fraudulently obtained credit facilities with a consortium of 11 banks (both public and private) beginning 2008 and had outstanding debt of Rs2,654.40 crore as of 29 June 2016, CBI said.

The agency in an FIR had said that the DPIL, which manufactures electric cables and equipment, is promoted by Suresh Narain Bhatnagar and his sons Amit and Sumit, who are also the directors of the firm. The loan, it said, was declared a non-performing asset in 2016-17.

“It is alleged that the DPIL, through its management, fraudulently availed credit facilities from a consortium of 11 banks (both public and private) since 2008, leaving behind an outstanding debit of Rs 2,654.40 crore as of June 29, 2016,” the agency had said

While Agnihotri was posted as AGM, Shrivastava was posted as DGM in the zonal office of Bank of India in Vadodara in 2007-08.

Agnihotri had retired as GM and Shrivastava as DGM. The company and its directors managed to get term loans and credit facilities despite being on the Reserve Bank of India’s defaulters list and the Export Credit Guarantee Corporation’s caution list at the time of the initial sanction of credit limits by the consortium, the CBI alleged.

When the consortium was formed in 2008, the Axis Bank was the lead bank for the term loan and the Bank of India was the lead bank for cash credit limits. It is alleged that the firm, with active connivance of officials from various banks, managed to get enhanced credit facilities. 

According to the CBI, the company had allegedly submitted false stock statements to the lead bank by treating receivables more than 180 days (non-current asset) as less than 180 days (current asset) to get more drawing power in their cash credit accounts.