Fraud charges: Dubai tycoon to drag BOB to court
Dubai-based billionaire B R Shetty (pictured) is planning to drag Bank of Baroda (BOB) to the courts after getting a clean chit from a Dubai-domiciled forensic auditor Wise House Consultants tasked with investigating fund transfers among BRS Group firms.
The forensic audit report says Shetty, who built a multibillion dollar business in Dubai from the ground up, was not only a victim of a complex financial scam involving his group's top executives, but was unfairly targeted by banks and the media as a “defaulter”.
Shetty is currently in India and trying to return to Dubai to take care of his businesses, but a travel ban issued by BOB has put paid to his plans.
BOB did not comment on the audit report till the time of going to press. When contacted, Shetty did not comment on the audit report. He claimed his innocence, saying the truth would be out soon.
In the forensic audit dated May 1 this year, auditor Mohamed Soliman Omar of Wise House investigated the debt crisis announced by NMC Health, the Dubai-based flagship company of BRS Group, and concluded that Shetty did not issue any financial statements and there was no relationship between him and any undeclared debts.
London-listed NMC Healthcare was sent to administration in 2020 after auditors detected $4 billion of undeclared debt.
The auditor also investigated transactions of Shetty’s personal account at BOB, and found that the senior management of NMC, led by former CEO Prasanth Manghat, had made a series of fraudulent transactions by transferring funds from NMC to Shetty’s personal account and then transferring it again to third parties using fraudulent and forged bank transfer orders. It became clear that both Promoth Manghat, former CEO of UAE Exchange, and Pradeep Kumar, former CFO of UAE Exchange, opened an account in the name of Shetty at the National Bank of Fujairah (NBF), furnishing an account opening form using what was proved to be a forged signature. They embezzled UAE Exchange money by transferring its funds to NBF account.
The forensic report also examined the account in the name of one Guide Contracting and General Maintenance Company at BOB, and inconsistencies in the account opening form were found.
Extended authorities were granted to a few employees, while the pages that had a signature attributed to Shetty had granted “read-only access”. It was found by the auditor that Prasanth Manghat transferred NMC’S funds to this account, as well as Promoth Manghat and from Neopharma, another BRS Group company.
“We have concluded from our overall research the facts represented the embezzlement and wasting of both companies’ funds. This took place by a plan executed by brothers Promoth and Prasanth Manghat, with the assistance of other employees. It was evident that the senior management of Finablr as well as Abdul Rahman Basadiq (member of the board of directors at Finablr, NMC, and UAE Exchange) received large sums and payments from the embezzled money,” stated the report.