CBI books Amrapali Smart City Developers in bank fraud case of over Rs 472 crore

The CBI has carried out searches at the premises of the directors of Amrapali Smart City Developers, including Anil Kumar Sharma, booked in a case of alleged bank fraud of over Rs 472 crore, officials said on Friday.

The central probe agency conducted the searches at eight locations in the Delhi-NCR, including the premises of three accused directors, on Thursday, they said.

The CBI has filed an FIR against the company and its directors Anil Kumar Sharma, Shiva Priya and Ajay Kumar for allegedly causing a loss of Rs 472.24 crore to a consortium of banks comprising the erstwhile Corporation Bank (now the Union Bank of India), the Oriental Bank of Commerce (now the Punjab National Bank) and the Union Bank of India.

The action comes on a complaint from the Corporation Bank, which alleged that the company had a dishonest intention from the very beginning, it started defaulting in making payments of the dues under the agreement and failed to fulfil its obligations.

"Since the disbursal of the loan amount, the company deliberately and intentionally defaulted in making payments of the entire loan amount. The loan account started to show signals of stress and was finally classified as a Non-Performing Asset...," the FIR alleged.

The agency has also booked the company's statutory auditor, Amit Mittal.

Sharma, Shiv Priya and Kumar are in jail.

The bank said the Supreme Court had ordered a forensic audit of the company and the report was directly submitted to the court.

In its complaint, the bank said it does not have the report but in its order dated July 23, 2019, the Supreme Court pointed out that Amrapali group directors diverted the money by creating dummy companies, realising professional fees, creating bogus bills, selling flats at an undervalued price, payment of an excessive brokerage etc.

"They obtained investment from JP Morgan in violation of FEMA and FDI norms. The shares were overvalued for making payment to JP Morgan. It was adopted as a device for siphoning off the money of the home buyers to foreign countries," it said.

Citing the order, the bank said the amount so obtained was not used in the projects.

"The statutory auditor, (Amit) Mittal, failed in his duty and was part of fraudulent activities as found in the forensic report. The money obtained from the banks was diverted to unapproved uses such as for the creation of personal assets of directors, creation of assets in closely held companies by the directors along with their partners and relatives, for personal expenses of directors, to give advances without carrying interest for several years," it said.

It said the firm has cheated the banks by diverting the funds, creating dummy companies, bogus bills, selling flats at an undervalued price, violating FEMA and FDI norms and money laundering.

"It is thus observed from the above-stated facts that the loan was sanctioned for a specific purpose and the same was mis-utilised by the company. The company indulged in malpractices and misappropriated the loan amount and diverted the money to certain non-existing entities, which is detrimental to the interest of the complainant, and thereby, the borrower company and its directors have committed fraud and criminal breach of trust," the bank said.

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