BSP MLA Vinay Shankar Tiwari, who is also a director in Gangotri Enterprise Limited, has filed a writ petition before the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court, challenging an FIR registered by the CBI in Delhi into the alleged bank loan scam which had caused thousands of crores of loss to a consortium of banks.
The FIR was registered in Delhi, but has, interestingly, been challenged before the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court which seems to have no jurisdiction to entertain it. The matter should be filed in Delhi as per jurisdiction.
The accused named in the FIR are the firm Gangotri Enterprise Ltd, its managing director Ajeet Pandey, director Vinay Shankar Tiwari and his wife Reeta Tiwari, and another firm, Royal Marketing Pvt Ltd.
Vinay Shankar Tiwari is the son of former minister Hari Shankar Tiwari.
The Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court, headed by Justices Ritu Raj Awasthi and Saroj Yadav, has been hearing the writ petitions for quashing of the FIR registered under Sections 120B, 420, 468 and 471 I.P.C. and Section 13(2) read with Section 13(1)(d) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 of 2019, under Sections 419, 420, 467, 468, I.P.C. & 60/72 Excise Act, P.S. AC-V Delhi, District Delhi.
The Court on November 17 issued notice to the respondent bank. On November 20, the counsel for the bank, Rajiv Mishra, made his appearance in the matter. The investigating officer Karan Singh Rana, Deputy Superintendent of Police CBI has also marked his attendance before the court. For the next two dates which fall on Nov 25 and December 3, the matter was adjourned and to be taken up on Dec 7.
Seven consortium banks led by the Bank of India have lodged an FIR against and filed a complaint to CBI against M/s Gangotri Enterprises Ltd. and its directors.
The company enjoyed a credit facility of Rs 35 crore with the Bank of India before the forming of the consortium. Initially, the consortium was formed in March 2007 consisting of two banks, led by Bank of India with the other being Canara Bank. This was increased from time to time and finally, a consortium of seven banks was formed in March 2012.
The company has availed credit facilities of Rs 1,129.44 crore with modification and addition with consortium member banks from time to time.
The company’s debts were restructured under the CDR mechanism (2013). The company was granted a moratorium of two years for repayment of WCTL of Rs.123.40 crore. The repayment of the installment was due from March 2015, but the company could not meet its repayment obligations. In view of no significant improvement in stress debtors' position and non-implementation of projects at the stipulated time, the account was classified as NPA by all the member banks.
At the JLF meeting of September 7, 2016, it was decided by the member banks present (six out of seven) to appoint a forensic auditor. Bank of India being the lead bank, appointed forensic auditor M/s Ravi Rajan & Co, New Delhi on December 5, 2016, for conducting a forensic audit of the account.
After the auditor carried out the forensic audit for the period covering 01.01.2013 to 31.12.2016, all banks except AXIS Bank declared the company as a fraud. There are many irregularities in the finding of the forensic auditor as well as bank’s findings such as diversion of funds, violation of statutory guidelines, breach of trust between the banker and the borrower, violation of audit standard, submission of forged/fabricated financial statements, not disclosing the segment-wise result in the financials, etc.
The accused (Vinay Shankar Tiwari) is a BSP MLA and related to Rajya Sabha Member Satish Chandra Mishra who is also a lawyer by profession and before the Lucknow bench, the counsels for the CBI is ASG SB Pande, who is a junior of Satish Chandra Mishra, BSP MP.
The Directorate of Enforcement is also going to start its investigation and register a case under the PMLA Act, looking into the money laundering aspect of the crime.
The sources closed to intelligence agencies reveal on condition of anonymity that a hawala mastermind was involved in big transactions, which is under investigation and a report is likely to be submitted before the home ministry within a week.
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