KOCHI/T’PURAM : The CBI on Thursday raided the residences of top officers of HLL Lifecare Ltd in Thiruvananthapuram, Kottayam and Bengaluru as part of a probe into a corruption case in the export of iron ore in 2007-08.Coordinated by CBI additional SP (Kochi) T V Joy and CBI inspector Abdul Azeez, the raids were held at the residences of former HLL Lifecare chairman and current adviser M Ayyappan, former MD Suresh Kumar, former finance director B Chandrasekharan, senior executive director (finance) Sathyavageeswaran, senior vice-president (procurement and consulting division) S Girish Kumar, deputy manager, (procurement and consulting division) A P Hari Prasad and Rama Shipping Services CEO Rajesh Narayanan.
“In the raid held at the residence of M Ayyappan in Thiruvananthapuram, we have recovered details of Rs 2.5 crore deposited as fixed deposit with various banks in the city. He has around 12 bank accounts, and details about the amounts deposited in these accounts were collected. Similarly, we also recovered ornaments from his residence, which is yet to be weighed,” a CBI officer said.
In November, a case regarding HLL’s mercantile export activities was registered. As per the FIR, during a board of directors meeting held on December 6, 2005, it was decided to explore the possibilities of mercantile export. A mercantile exporter procures materials from manufacturers and exports the same in the firm’s name. According to CBI, the accused entered into a criminal conspiracy with Bengaluru-based Rama Shipping Services in 2007-08. As part of the conspiracy, HLL released Rs 2 crore fraudulently in advance to the shipping company under the pretext of procurement of iron ore for mercantile export without obtaining a bank guarantee.
As per the decision of the board of directors, tenders were called for the procurement of iron ore for mercantile export. ATN Professional, Bengaluru, and Priyadarsini Exports and Imports, Vellore, applied for the tender. However, the lowest bidder, Priyadarsini, failed to execute the agreement and the tender was cancelled. After this, Rama Shipping Services represented by Rajesh Narayanan, which was not a bidder, approached HLL.
A meeting held on August 22, 2007 finalised a contract between HLL Lifecare and Rama Shipping Services for iron ore exports. All the HLL officers who were made accused in the case participated in the meeting and a contract was executed. As per the agreement, Rama Shipping Services was supposed to furnish a bank guarantee as security for the advance paid by HLL.
Two crossed cheques of Rs 2 crore equal to the amount paid in advance by HLL was provided by the shipping company even though norms stated that cheques cannot be given as bank guarantee. In February 2008, Rs 2 crore was released. No shipping order or letter of credit was received from the buyer. Later, HLL failed to present the cheques within the stipulated period as the export did not take place. The cheques were presented in May 2008 and both the cheques were returned unpaid due to insufficient funds in the account of Rama Shipping Services. The amount released to the company could not be realised.According to the CBI, the accused public servants failed to ensure that the demand from the buyer, Emirates Trading Agency, Dubai, was genuine as mentioned in the agreement.
No deliberations or correspondence was made with buyer Emirates Trading Agency by HLL before entering into an agreement with Rama Shipping Services.“The checking of the bank lockers will be done in the coming days. We have informed the banks about the checking. The documents recovered from the raid on Thursday has to be scrutinised before proceeding with further procedures. The wealth amassed by the accused are also being verified,” the officer said.