Three directors of two companies in the healthcare sector have been charged for allegedly duping a national bank to the tune of ₹69 lakh.
Action was taken based on a complaint filed with the Cubbon Park police last week by Kamath P.V., assistant general manager, Canara Bank, Cantonment. He accused Milind Naik and his wife Mahalakshmi M. Naik who are on the board of a healthcare company, and Ajay Shroff, a director in the medical equipment firm, of cheating the back.
They had approached the bank a few years ago, claiming to have floated a company that dealt with life-saving equipment, which would be sourced from firm that Shroff was director of. They applied for a loan of ₹95 lakh furnishing all the necessary documents including certificates from Registrar of companies, KYC documents, and quotations for equipment they were buying, and so on. The loan was approved in December 2016 after verification and on January 4, 2017, ₹68,90,796 was credited to their account, Mr. Kamath said in his complaint. The initial ₹69 lakh was the first part release of the loan.
When the second part was to be released, the bank learned that the loan amount taken for purchasing medical equipment had not been used for it, and that the money had been diverted to another investment without the knowledge of the bank. It immediately stopped the release of the second part of the loan, and instead sent notices to the directors.
In his statement, Mr. Kamath said though the directors had furnished all documents that were genuine and there was no impersonation, the bank learnt that there was criminal intent to defraud the bank even before the company was floated.
“Milind maintained that he had a dispute with the Ajay Shroff and hence could not repay the loan,” Mr. Kamath said. The police have registered an FIR and investigations are under way while the bank had initiated recovery proceedings against the two companies.