CHANDIGARH: Political mudslinging has started after the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has registered a case against Gurpal Singh, son-in-law of Punjab Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh is among the twelve others in an alleged bank fraud case against Simbhaoli Sugars Limited.
The Oriental Bank of Commerce (OBC) bank in it’s complaint to the CBI on November 17, last year has alleged this bank fraud and thus on February 22 the apex agency registered the case.
Sources said that the agency in it’s probe has found out two loans Rs 97.85 crore, which was declared fraud in 2015 and another corporate loan of Rs 110 crore, which was taken to repay the previous loan.
Besides, Gurpal Singh, the CBI has booked 12 others including Simbhaoli Sugars’ chairman Gurmit Singh Mann, CEO GSC Rao, CFO Sanjay Tapriya, executive director Gursimran Kaur Mann and other company officials along with some unknown bank officials.
Meanwhile, this case has taken political colour in the state, union food processing minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal and wife of Shiromani Akali Dal President Sukhbir Singh Badal has hit out at Amarinder.“ What do you expect from a chief minister who himself is embroiled in having black money abroad? The whole family is embroiled in scams. It isn’t surprising. It's old habit of Congress,” she said.
Former BJP President Kamal Sharma said that this scam was not possible without political patronage and on moral grounds, now the Chief Minister and the Congress Party should answer on the whole issue. He has gobbled crores of rupees of banks and farmers which is very unfortunate and example of the corrupt culture of Congress, said Sharma.
Punjab Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh has flayed attempts to politicise the Oriental Bank of Commerce (OBC) case with unsubstantiated charges against his son-in-law, who is a minority shareholder with a mere 12.5 per cent share in Simbhaoli Sugars, and was being unnecessarily dragged into the controversy.
He said that, as per information available with him, the alleged fraud, which was at the centre of the case, had been the subject matter of court proceedings before the DRT in a recovery suit filed by the Bank, which was settled between the company and OBC, and was recorded by DRT Lucknow by way of a consent order dated March 16, 2015.
Amarinder further said he had been told that Gurpal Singh, who was a law-abiding citizen, had even refused to sign any documents to give any personal guarantee against the loan in question, forcing OBC to amend the loan document on February 12, 2015, thus waiving off the requirement of Gurpal Singh’s signature on any guarantee documents.
Political parties, including the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), were targeting Gurpal Singh only because of the Simbhaoli director’s personal relationship with him, said Amarinder, lambasting them for making baseless allegations without bothering to verify the facts, only to secure political mileage.
The fact was that Gurpal had actually been litigating against Simbhaoli Sugars, for his rights as Director and shareholder, before the National Company Law Tribunal, as he had been kept out of all major decisions and the working of the company, which was reportedly a matter of court record, said the Chief Minister, citing information received.
It was evident that the issue was being deliberately sought to be politicised, with the farming community also being unnecessarily dragged into the whole affair, said Amarinder. Simbhaoli Sugars Limited is one of the largest sugar mills in the country.