Let us have a look at some of the prominent facts of the case:
1. ABG Shipyard, which was incorporated on 15 March 1985, has been under banking arrangements since 2001. It is India’s largest firms engaged in shipbuilding and ship repair.
2. Company had financing arrangements with over a two dozen lenders under consortium arrangement. The leader in Consortium was ICICI Bank.
3. Due to poor performance, the account became NPA on 30/11/2013. Several efforts were made to revive the company operations but could not succeed.
4. The company’s loan account was restructured under the CDR mechanism in March 2014 by all lenders.
5. After the restructuring failed, the company’s account was classified as NPA in July 2016, with backdated effect from 30th Nov. 2013.
6. E&Y was appointed as forensic auditor by lenders during April 2018 and they submitted their report on January 2019.
7. Forensic Audit revealed that between 2012 and 2017, the accused colluded together and committed illegal activities including diversion of funds, misappropriation and criminal breach of trust. Funds were also used to purchase assets for its related parties The company allegedly also invested some of those loans in its overseas subsidiary.
8. SBI had first filed a complaint with the CBI on November 8, 2019, on which the CBI had sought some clarifications on March 12, 2020. A fresh complaint was filed again in August that year. After “scrutinising” for over one and a half years, the CBI acted on the complaint filing an FIR on February 7.
9. SBI also informed the CBI that staff accountability had been dealt with and closed by the competent authority and it was found that its staff was not involved in the alleged fraud.
10. The SBI consortium of 28 banks and financial institutions have allegedly been cheated of a massive total of ₹22,842 crore, which makes it the biggest alleged bank fraud case.
11. CBI has now registered an FIR against ABG Shipyard Ltd and its directors and conducted a search at its premises.
