OBC Rs 109 cr loan default case: ED arrests Simbhaoli Sugars chairman Gurmit Singh Mann and others

New Delhi: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Thursday said it has registered a case against Simbhaoli Sugars’ chairman Gurmit Singh Mann and others in connection with a Rs 109 crore loan default case. According to the financial probe agency, the case was registered against Mann, CEO GSC Rao, CFO Sanjay Tapriya, executive director Gursimran Kaur Mann and other company officials. Besides, some more bank officials in connection with the alleged bank fraud involving the sugars mill and the Oriental Bank of Commerce (OBC) were also booked for money laundering. The ED official said the agency has carried out searches on Wednesday in Uttar Pradesh’s Hapur and Ghaziabad. The ED officials said they have recovered some incriminating documents during the searches. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), earlier on 22 February, had booked Gurpal Singh, son-in-law of Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh and 12 others including Mann, Rao, Tapriya, executive director Gursimran Kaur Mann and other company officials along with some bank officials in connection with the same bank fraud. [caption id=“attachment_4367027” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  File image of Simbhaoli Sugars Limited chairman Gurmit Singh Mann. Source: Company website[/caption] According to the CBI officials, the bank sanctioned a loan amounting to Rs 148.60 crore in 2011 to the private company for financing individual, Joint Liability Groups, Self-Help Groups under the tie-up arrangement of the RBI Scheme to 5,762 sugarcane farmers supplying produce to said private company during the period from 25 January to 13 March, 2012. It has been alleged that the company had diverted funds for personal use. The account turned Non Performing Asset (NPA) on 31 March, 2015 and was later declared as alleged fraud by the bank to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on 13 May, 2015 for an amount of Rs 97.85 crore. It was further alleged that in addition to the existing NPA as on 31 March, 2015, the bank, under multiple banking arrangements, had sanctioned another corporate loan of Rs 110 crore to the sugar company on 28 January, 2015, to pay its outstanding loan of Rs 97.85 crore, and adjusted the total liability of Rs 112.9 crore of said private company on 30 June, 2016 by way of deposit of this new corporate loan. The corporate loan, too turned into an NPA on 29 November, 2016, thus resulting in its first outstanding loan of Rs 97.85 crore (as alleged fraud) and the corporate loan of Rs 109.08 crore (as fresh outstanding).