CHENNAI: The Central Bureau of Investigation has filed three charge-sheets in the Court of Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate, Chennai against the then Chairman and Managing Director of First Leasing Company India Limited (FLCIL) A C Muthiah and others for allegedly cheating three banks to the tune of `665 crore.A CBI spokesman said that besides Muthiah, chargesheet was filed against Farouk M Irani, then managing director of FLCIL and others for involving in a criminal conspiracy with the statutory and internal auditors of the company with malafide intentions to cheat the Industrial Development Bank of India (IDBI) by availing various credit facilities on the basis of forged financial reports and caused loss of `273.99 crore to the bank.
In another instance, the accused had availed credit facilities from UCO Bank in the form of working capital limit and short-term loans in the name of the company by furnishing false and fabricated financial statements and caused loss of `142.94 crore to the bank.They had also availed various credit facilities from SBI Bank by furnishing inflated income and assets in the financial statements by creating unsubstantiated entries in the books of accounts since 1998 and caused loss of `248.46 crore to the bank.
The CBI investigation has disclosed that the accused, along with seven satellite or shell companies in furtherance of a criminal conspiracy with statutory and internal auditors, had cheated the banks by submitting forged statements to obtain undue credit limits. The investigation has also disclosed that the promoter-directors had misappropriated the assets of the company by using such loaned money to donate annually to a Trust run by the main accused.