CBI charge-sheets industrialist Muthiah, others

Chennai Dec 22 (IANS) The CBI on Thursday said it has filed charge-sheets including one against industrialist A.C. Muthiah who was then Chairman of First Leasing Company of India Ltd for allegedly cheating IDBI Bank UCO Bank and State Bank of India (SBI) to the tune of around Rs 665 crore.

According to a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) statement it has charge-sheeted Farouk M. Irani then Managing Director First Leasing Company among others.

The CBI investigation disclosed that the accused along with seven satellite/shell companies in furtherance of a criminal conspiracy with statutory and internal auditors had cheated the banks by submitting forged financial statements to obtain undue credit limits.

They allegedly siphoned the same away for extraneous use whilst causing wrongful loss of around Rs 665.39 crore to the banks -- IDBI Bank (Rs 273.99 crore) UCO Bank (Rs 142.94 crore) and SBI (Rs 248.46 crore).

The investigation also disclosed that the Promoter-Directors had misappropriated the assets of the company entrusted to them by using such loaned money to donate annually to a Trust run by one of the accused.

--IANS
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