CBI grills Rotomac owners over Rs 3,695-crore loan default

New Delhi: The CBI on Wednesday questioned the promoter of Rotomac pens, Vikram Kothari, and his son Rahul at the agency’s headquarters here in connection with an alleged loan default of Rs 3,695 crore to a consortium of seven nationalised banks.

According to sources Mr Kothari and his son was questioned at length by the agency sleuths on Wednesday. Kothari was earlier being questioned in Kanpur, where his company and residence were located. Kothari, his wife Sadhana and son Rahul, all directors of Rotomac Global Pvt Ltd, had allegedly diverted the loan amount towards purposes other than what they were meant for, sources said. One of the banks in the consortium, the Bank of Baroda, had approached the CBI, requesting an FIR to be lodged against Kothari as it apparently feared that he might leave the country, they added. The CBI had registered a case on February 18, following the complaint.

Initially, the alleged scam was estimated to be worth Rs 800 crore, but after the CBI launched its probe into the accounts of the Rotomac Global Pvt Ltd, it was found that the company had allegedly taken loans from the Bank of India, the Bank of Maharashtra, the Indian Overseas Bank, the Union Bank of India, the Allahabad bank and the Oriental Bank of Commerce. 

State-owned Allahabad Bank on Wednesday also said it has an exposure of Rs 516.79 crore to crisis-hit Rotomac group and the lender has made required provisioning for the same as per RBI norms. The bank said the accounts of Rotomac Global and Rotomac Exports have been filed in National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) and was admitted on September 20, 2017. The recovery process under Sarfaesi is in process by the bank for the third Rotomac group firm, Rotomac Exim Pvt Ltd, it said. 

A number of banks have made announcements to the stock exchanges clarifying on the news since their names have appeared in the news item earlier this week.