CBI books Ludhiana firm for cheating banks of ₹1,530 crore
The amount received by SEL from the above company (Aarti Impex) kept on increasing since 2010... Upon searching the company on internet, there was a link to the Panama Paper leaks. CENTRAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION ‘S FIR
NEWDELHI:THE Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has filed a case against a Ludhiana based company - SEL Textiles Ltd - for cheating a consortium of 10 banks led by Central Bank of India of ~ 1,530 crore between 2009 and 2013 and using a Canada-based company - Aarti Impex - named in Panama Papers leaks for diversion of funds, officials familiar with development said Monday.
According to Panama Papers data, Aarti Impex Inc is an offshore entity of Canada linked to one Sandeep Gupta. Aarti Impex, an exporter of textile products, is a company based in Canada and has branch offices in Bolivia and Columbia and represent textile spinners from India, Pakistan, Indonesia, Turkey, China etc.
It was among those individuals and entities who allegedly paid the Panama-based law firm Mossack Fonseca to set up offshore entities in tax havens around the world.
The Panama Papers’ were a massive leak of financial files over 11 million documents released in April 2016, from the database of Mossack Fonseca, which was released to German newspaper Suddeutsche Zeitung (SZ). The data revealed how politicians, celebrities, businessmen across the world including several big Indian names used the law firm for laundering money, dodging transactions and evading taxes.
In its FIR registered against SEL Textiles Ltd based in Ludhiana,
agency has named its promoters - Ram Saran Saluja, Neeraj Saluja, Dhiraj Saluja and unknown persons for diverting banks’ funds using several companies in India and abroad.
Aarti Impex is not named as accused in CBI FIR, reviewed by HT, but it is listed as one of the exporters to SEL Textiles which was used for diverting the money by latter to siphon the funds out of India and there were no genuine business transactions between both companies. “The amount received by SEL from the above company (Aarti Impex) kept on increasing since 2010,” states the CBI FIR quoting the bank’s complaint. “The credit period has shown continuous increase since 2010 giving signals of possible risks to realisation. Upon searching the company on internet, there was a link to Panama Paper leaks, wherein, the director is stated to be Sandeep Gupta, and company is registered in Panama Islands,” it adds.
An email sent to Aarti Impex by HT remained unanswered till filing of this report.
The Panama Papers’ data state the company was dissolved sometime in 2017.
Apart from Aarti Impex, SEL was using several other Dubaibased companies for diversion of banks’ money. In all, there has been a diversion of over ~852 crore from SEL to various companies, according to the CBI FIR.
A CBI officer, who didn’t wish to be named, said that Dhiraj Saluja is said to be out of India and a look out circular (LOC) will be issued against him.
Other than Central Bank, which has an exposure of Rs 371 crore on SEL; nine banks which have been cheated are - Allahabad Bank (Rs 429 crore), Punjab National Bank (Rs 176 crore), Indian Overseas Bank (Rs 120 crore), Bank of Maharashtra (Rs 92 crore), Punjab & Sind Bank (Rs 52 crore), Corporation Bank (Rs 115 crore), Union Bank of India (Rs 46 crore), UCO Bank (Rs 101 crore) and United Bank of India (Rs 24 crore).
The banks have alleged that the company diverted funds not only for acquiring unproductive assets, but also for creating additional chain of intermediary for capital goods purchases through capital advances and investments which are considered beyond the capacity of the company to support looking to its own weak financials, according to CBI FIR.
CBI has been roped in as the case has inter-state and international ramifications, the officer added. HT called Niraj Saluja’s office in Ludhiana but he was not available for comment.