Mumbai firm booked for ₹3.5k-cr fraud, says CBI

NEWDELHI:THE Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has filed a case against Frost International Ltd, a Mumbai-based company involved in merchant trading, import and export of various commodities, and its promoters for allegedly cheating a consortium of banks led by Bank of India of ~3,592 crore in 2011, according to the FIR filed in the case.

Promoters Udai Jayant Desai, Sujay Udai Desai, Sunil Lal Chand Verma and Anoop Kumar Wadhera are among the 14 people, including directors and guarantors of the company, who have been named as accused in the FIR, a copy of which has been accessed by HT.

Lookout circulars have also been issued against all of them at airports and other entry and exit points across India so that they do not leave the country, according to officials aware of the matter.

Apart from BOI, Bank of Baroda, Canara Bank, Central Bank of India, Andhra Bank, Oriental Bank of Commerce, Punjab National Bank, Syndicate Bank, Union Bank of India, Indian Overseas Bank, UCO Bank, Vijaya Bank, Allahabad Bank and the United Bank of India are other banks in the consortium.

According to a complaint filed by Boi’s Kanpur branch, which is now part of the FIR, Frost International has been banking with the banks since 1996. The FIR said that in the loans taken from the consortium, BOI has loaned the highest—~756 crore—which the company has not repaid.

It added a forensic audit conducted by the banks found that there was a potential diversion of funds by way of providing unsecured loans to group companies.

It was found purchases and sales took place among parties known to each other and majority of payments towards sales were received from third parties and not from parties to whom goods were sold, according to the FIR.

The company’s corporate office refused to comment.