New Delhi: The CBI on Friday registered a case against a Karnal-based firm — M/S Mahesh Timber Pvt Ltd — and its directors for defrauding Oriental Bank of Commerce to the tune of Rs 155.21 crore.
Sources said the accused firm allegedly cheated the Oriental Bank of Commerce to the tune of Rs 155 crore by manipulating sanctioned credit limits of its subsidiary in Singapore using international banking messages for fund transfers without mentioning it in the bank’s books.
Similar modus operandi was allegedly used by the companies of diamantaire Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi to defraud the Punjab National Bank to the tune of over $2 billion.
Acting on the complaint of the OBC, the CBI has booked Mahesh Timber Pvt Ltd (MTPL), its directors, Ashok Mittal and Nisha Mittal, and a senior manager of the bank, Surender Kumar Ranga, who has been terminated from service, sources said. It is alleged that MTPL owns Singapore-based Mahesh Timber (Singapore) Ltd, which availed credit facilities from the branches of the SBI, Bank of Baroda and UCO Bank in that country, they said. These facilities were backed by the Standby Letter of Credit issued by the SBI, Bank of Baroda and Oriental Bank of Commerce to the parent company MTPL, they said.
MTPL, which was engaged in trading and sawing of imported timber, availed credit facilities to the tune of Rs 242.09 crore from a consortium of the State Bank of India, Oriental Bank of Commerce and Bank of Baroda, sources said. It was found that cash credit limit sanctioned to the bank was increased from Rs 12 crore to Rs 108.11 crore in a fraudulent manner, they said. Giving the modus operandi, the bank alleged in its complainthat foreign letters of credit (FLC) were opened in the bank’s book through Finacle — banking software — and SWIFT messages — an international messaging system for banking used to pass instructions among banks globally.
