Central Bureau of Investigation.
| Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has registered a case against Ahmedabad-based Greendiamz Biotech Private Limited and others for allegedly causing a loss of ₹46.79 crore to the Union Bank of India.
Among the accused persons are Champat Rikhabchand Sanghavi, Deepak Champat Sanghvi, Ashwin R. Shah and unknown public servants/private persons.
“Searches were conducted at different locations in Ahmedabad on the premises of the accused, including the borrower company, which led to the seizure of incriminating documents,” said a CBI official.
According to the CBI, the accused had diverted and siphoned off the funds disbursed by the bank as credit facilities, through falsification of information/documents and committed the offence of criminal breach of trust, cheating and misappropriation of public funds.
The alleged fraud was initially detected during a forensic audit, during which instances of alleged bogus invoices, forgery of the books of accounts and diversion of funds were found.
Incorporated in May 2009, the company had set up a production unit for manufacturing bio-degradable plastic products. It was issued letters of credit and term loans to facilitate the business.
The main raw material, granules, was imported from a German firm, Limagrain Cereal Ingredients. The granules were stated to be completely bio-degradable and compostable. The commercial production commenced from 2010-11.
The bank alleged that the company’s turnover soon declined and its financial situation kept getting worse. The account was declared a non-performing asset in December 2013 due to non-servicing repayment instalments.