The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has booked ABG Shipyard Ltd along with its former chairman & MD Rishi Kamlesh Agarwal and others for allegedly cheating a consortium of banks led by SBI of over Rs 22,842 crore. Sources told the CNBC-TV18, the CBI has issued a Look Out Circular (LOC) against the accused in the case.
The case is being described as India’s biggest bank fraud. In five years between 2012 and 2017, ABG Shipyard, a Gujarat based ship-building firm, allegedly defrauded 28 banks. As a result of this revelation, the Modi dispensation is under fire, with the Opposition accusing the government of aiding the culprits and delaying the uncovering of this loot that occurred in the BJP-ruled state.
Recently, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had to defend the government for the delay in initiating an inquiry since the filing of the first complaint for the CBI probe. According to her, the time taken was less than normal.
FM Sitharaman said the loans were issued under the Congress-led UPA regime. She said the account became a non-performing asset (NPA) in 2013 and the debt was restructured in 2014 by all lenders but it could not be recused, Mint reported.
Sitharaman said that banks take almost 52-54 months to complete such intensive work, and of late it is taking far less time to detect such scams.
ABG Shipyard’s Rise & Fall
Incorporated on March 15, 1985, ABG Shipyard Limited (ABGSL) has a registered office in Gujarat’s Ahmedabad. It is a flagship company of the…
