New Delhi, March 28 (IANS) The CBI has issued lookout notice against Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh's son-in-law Gurpal Singh in connection with the alleged bank fraud case of Rs 109.08 crore by Simbhaoli Sugars Ltd, an official said on Wednesday.
The agency also issued the circular against three other top former executives of Simbhaoli Sugars Ltd -- CEO G.S.C. Rao, Chief Financial Officer Sanjay Thapar and Executive Director Gursimran Kaur Mann.
Simbhaoli Sugars, one of the largest sugar mills in the country, and its executives are being probed for cheating Oriental Bank of Commerce (OBC) in 2011 by availing credit facilities on the pretext of financing sugarcane farmers.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on March 1 questioned Gurpal Singh in connection with the case.
The agency had registered a case against the sugar mill, its Chairman Gurmit Singh Mann, the then (in 2015) Deputy Managing Director Gurpal Singh (now director) and others in connection with the alleged bank loan fraud.
Rao, Tapriya, Gursimran Kaur Mann and five non-executive directors were also booked by the agency.
The CBI had carried out searches at eight premises including residences of the directors, factory, corporate office and registered office of the company in Delhi, Hapur and Noida.
The probe focuses on two loans -- Rs 97.85 crore which was declared fraudulent in 2015 and another corporate loan of Rs 110 crore which was used to repay the previous loan.
The bank was allegedly cheated to the tune of Rs 97.85 crore, but the loss incurred by the bank was Rs 109.08 crore, the FIR read.
The OBC complained to the CBI on November 17, 2017, but the agency registered a case of criminal conspiracy and cheating under the Prevention of Corruption Act on February 22.
According to the FIR, the OBC sanctioned a loan of Rs 148.60 crore to the company in 2011.
The loan was sanctioned for financing 5,762 sugarcane farmers based on a tie-up agreement under an Reserve Bank of India scheme for supplying sugar produce to the company from January 25, 2012 to March 13, 2012, but the money was "dishonestly and fraudulently diverted by the company for its own needs", the CBI alleged.
The account turned NPA on March 31, 2015 and was declared alleged fraud by the bank to RBI on May 13, 2015 for an amount of Rs 97.85 crore.
The OBC alleged that in addition to the existing NPA, the bank, under multiple banking arrangements, sanctioned another corporate loan of Rs 110 crore to the company on January 28, 2015 to pay its outstanding loan of Rs 97.85 crore.
The bank adjusted the total liability of Rs 112.94 crore towards the company through deposit of the new corporate loan.
"The corporate loan, too, turned NPA on November 29, 2016," the CBI said.
