Indian federal police file case against former UCO Bank chairman
India's federal police said on Saturday it has filed a case against a former chairman of state-run UCO Bank and several business executives alleging criminal conspiracy that caused a loss of 6.21 billion rupees (S$124 million).
Police said officials at the bank had colluded with private infrastructure firm Era Engineering Infra Ltd, and investment banking firm Altius Finserve Pvt Ltd, to siphon bank loans.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) said in a statement that Arun Kaul, the bank's chairman between 2010 and 2015, had helped clear the loan.
Kaul did not respond to Reuters' calls for comment. Era Engineering and Altius Finserve did not respond to calls outside of regular business hours.
The case reveals yet another banking fraud in India since February when two jewellery groups were accused of using nearly US$2 billion (S$2.6b) of fraudulent bank guarantees, in what has been dubbed the biggest fraud in India's banking history. That case put the banking sector under a cloud, with the CBI unearthing a string of other bank frauds since then.
In the UCO Bank case, it charged Kaul and several officials and accountants at the two companies with criminal conspiracy with an intention to defraud the bank of about 6.21 billion rupees by diverting and siphoning loans, according to the statement.
"The loan was not utilised for the sanctioned purpose and was secured by producing false end use certificates issued by the chartered accountant and by fabricating business data," the CBI said.
The offices of the companies, accountants and the residences of the accused are being searched, the CBI said. - REUTERS
Get The New Paper on your phone with the free TNP app. Download from the Apple App Store or Google Play Store now
