NEW DELHI: The CBI on Wednesday brought Rotomac promoter Vikram Kothari and his son Rahul from their Kanpur residence to the agency headquarters here for questioning in the Rs 3,695 crore bank loan fraud case. The sleuths grilled the duo from 11 a.m. till late in the evening.
“They (Kotharis) are being questioned here in connection with the fraud as the case against them is registered in New Delhi,” CBI spokesperson Abhishek Dayal said.
Vikram, his wife Sadhna and Rahul were questioned in Kanpur by the CBI for two days after the agency conducted searches at their premises there following registration of a case against them on a complaint from the Bank of Baroda (BoB).
The agency has seized all laptops, computers and mobile phones of the Kotharis and their staff and the forensic examination of the gadgets is underway, sources said.
According to the BoB complaint, Kothari and his family had cheated a consortium of seven banks led by Bank of India to the tune of Rs 3,695 crore, including unpaid interest accruals from 2008 onwards.
They allegedly cheated the banks by siphoning off bank loans credited to Rotomac Global Pvt Ltd (RGPL) for exports which were never executed and the money was round-tripped as part of the criminal conspiracy and fraud.
The credit sanctioned and disbursed to RGPL was utilized for purposes other than the intended purpose for which loan was granted.
The Income Tax Department had on Tuesday confiscated 14 accounts of the Kotharis and their firms in connection with a tax evasion case.
The BoB complaint mentioned that the fraud was declared on December 12 last year and staff accountability from the fraud angle is still under examination. The consortium of seven banks cheated include Bank of India, BoB, Bank of Maharashtra, Indian Overseas Bank, Union Bank of India, Allahabad Bank and Oriental Bank of Commerce.
While the consortium of banks was led by Bank of India, the complaint with the CBI was filed by BoB. The scam started in 2008 and continued at least till 2014, according to the FIR.