In what is termed as India’s biggest banking fraud, ABG Shipyard Limited (ABGSL) defrauded 28 banks to the tune of Rs 22,842 crore. CBI said that the account of ABG Shipyard turned NPA (non-performing assets) on November 30, 2013 with majority of disbursement taking place between 2005- 2012.
The agency has issued look out circulars against the accused directors, promoters and public servants to stop them from fleeing India. The accused named in CBI’s FIR are Rishi Kumar Agarwal, Santhanam Muthaswamy, Ashwani Kumar, Sushil Agarwal and Ravi Vimal Nevetia.
ICICI have been defrauded to the tune of Rs 7,089 crore, while it owes IDBI Bank as much as Rs 3,639 crore. ABG defrauded SBI of Rs 2,925 crore, Bank of Baroda of Rs 1,614 crore, Exim Bank of Rs 1,327 crore, Punjab National Bank of Rs 1,244 crore, Indian Overseas Bank of Rs 1,244 crore and Bank of India of Rs 719 crore.
Read | How ABG Shipyard pulled off India’s biggest bank fraud, surprising facts surface
Timeline of events
State Bank of India (SBI) and ABG Shipyard came together to do business since 2001. Its account turned NPA on November 30, 2013.
The NPA is of Rs 22,842 crore (approx). All disbursements took place between 2005-2012 through 28 banks, including ICICI and SBI.
On March 27, 2014, the account of ABG Shipyard was restructured. However, the operations of the company could not be revived.
On September 10, 2014, accounting firm NV Dand & Associates was enlisted to conduct a shock audit of ABG Shipyard.
NV Dand & Associates in its audit report dated April 30, 2016, mentioned various faults on the part of ABG Shipyard.
On July 30, 2016, the account of ABG Shipyard was declared non performing asset (NPA) with effect from November 30, 2013.
Ernst & Young LLP was appointed as the forensic auditor on April 10, 2018. The forensic audit covered the period of 2012 to 2017.
ICICI Bank referred ABG SL to the National Company Law Tribunal on August 1, 2017 for Corporate Insolvency Resolution Process.
Following this, multiple banks from April 2019 to March 2020 declared the account of the ABG Shipyard as fraud.
SBI made its complaint to CBI on August 25, 2020 to look into the matter, after the agency had raised queries in the complaint made in 2019.
FIR was registered on February 2, 2022, following an analysis of all the facts and the issues mentioned in the complaint.
Thirteen locations were searched on February 12, 2022, which led to the discovery of several incriminating documents.
