Chennai: With the storm created by the defrauding of PNB by diamond jeweller Nirav Modi yet to subside, it has emerged now that another jeweler – city-based Kanish Gold – has defrauded banks to the tune of Rs 824.15 crore.
A consortium of public and private sector banks led by the SBI appealed to the CBI in January to take action against the company’s directors and its auditors.
On Wednesday, the CBI registered an FIR against the company and its promoters and searched its office and residential premises in Chennai.
The promoters and directors of the Company, Boopesh Kumar Jain and his wife, Neeta Jain are said to be in Maldives. According to CBI sources, the stakeholders have been contacted and asked to cooperate with investigations.
According to the complaint by SBI, KGPL and its directors in collusion with the statutory auditors, had clear criminal intent to cheat and defraud the banks.
“To gain illegal profit, the company has been misrepresenting/falsifying the records and financial statements of the company showing a rosy picture of the company since 2009 for the purpose of availing credit facilities from banks, and thereby committed criminal breach of trust and cheated the lenders,” the complaint stated
The SBI first declared the company’s accounts as fraudulent to the RBI on November 11 last year and soon, other banks in the consortium followed suit, except for three.
“The sign of sickness was first noticed when the company delayed servicing interest for March 2017 in respect of eight member banks. Further, interest was not paid to all member banks for April 2017,” the complaint stated adding that when the consortium members visited the corporate office, factory and showrooms on May 27, 2017, they found that there was no activity.
“On the same day, Boopesh Kumar Jain gave a letter admitting falsification of records since 2009 and removal of stocks secured to the lenders,” the complaint added. A forensic audit followed up and the report confirmed the fears of the lenders.
An audit revealed various discrepancies in the form of overvaluation of stock. The firm had not maintained records for movement of goods. (DC)
