HYDERABAD: Bankers who had sanctioned loans to Transstroy, the company which had been mandated to take up the construction of Polavaram Project in the past, have found that it had deliberately diverted Rs 3,822 crore of the loan money for purposes other than intended for.
The bankers in their report to the CBI on how Transstroy had taken them for a ride, gave a blow by blow account of the financial misdemeanour the company had resorted to.
Former Guntur MP Rayapati Sambasiva Rao is the director and chairman of Transstroy and Cherukuri Sridhar is the Managing Director of the company.
Banks, who founded the company, found that the latter had donated gold jewellery to temples from the loan amount. As per the bank books, Rs 5.28 crore was used to donate gold saree to goddess Padmavathi.
“The consortium of banks sanctioned loans for a specific purpose which is mentioned in the sanction letters. Donating gold to temples cannot be the purpose for which the money was lent. The company has diverted the funds and showed it as donations,” the banks told the CBI.
“The banks have found in their forensic audit reports that the company had written off Rs 794 crore adjusting it towards reserves and surplus. Further, the stock statements for the period April 2016-March 2017 revealed that the total stock receipts’ value for 12 months amounted to Rs 2,568.77 crore but total purchases for the period were Rs 270.49 crore and the difference of Rs 2,298.28 crore has been unaccounted for,” CBI sources said.
Transstroy was funded by a consortium of banks for doing their businesses. However, it the company had obtained additional loan of Rs 2,261 crore from five other banks without intimating banks consortium and the amount was found to have been diverted. The CBI also found from the Union Bank of India’s report that Rs 200 crore received from promoters towards equity infusion was received from five parties.
In a reply to banks, Transstroy management said the amount was raised by promoters in their individual capacities and may have taken some loans from the vendors mentioned. However, the bank’s audit report indicated that the correlation of Rs 200 crore as incidental is not believable.
The consortium funds paid to the vendors towards the alleged supply of material was again rerouted as the equity investment in the company.
Further, it was found that Transstroy had procured similar machinery from two different vendors with the same machine and engine serial number from Volvo and Unique Engineers for Polavaram project.
This machinery was procured during March 14-June 14 to meet the specific requirements of Polavaram project falling in two consecutive financial years. During the period almost Rs 310 crore worth machinery was procured. Transstroy told the banks that it was not a deviation.