CBI books firm for defrauding banks of ₹271cr

 CBI books firm for defrauding banks of ₹271cr

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Ram.Sundaram@timesgroup.com

23.01.2022

Chennai: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has booked a city-based food production company for defrauding banks to the tune of ₹217. 2 crore. Oceanic Tropical Fruits Private Limited (OTFPL), Pepsico's co-packer for their product Slice, had taken loans amounting to ₹274. 3 crore loans from three banks – State Bank of India, ICICI and Central Bank of India. As the loans weren’t repaid, the banks declared them non-performing assets.

But auditors later found out that the company's directors – A Joseb Raj, Vimala Joseb and James Walter (personal guarantor) – diverted the loan funds. The company submitted fake vouchers and transaction details to divert the money, according to an FIR filed by the CBI on Thursday.

OTFPL used another firm, KK Foods (KKF), to collect receivables or debts from its consumers. The banks found out that KKF had actually collected the receivables but did not credit them in OTFPL's accounts. OTFPL was primarily involved in processing mango into pulp and concentrate and KKF acted as intermediary with mango suppliers. When the banks reviewed KKF's ledger account, they found 86 out of the 429 transactions were inconsistent. The firm claimed that it used private vehicles to transport 10,000 kilograms of mangoes. But when the banks crosschecked the registration numbers, they were found to be of two-wheelers and not trucks.

So the banks in 2019 declared the company's activities as fraudulent and authorised SBI's Stress Assets Management Branch to act on it. S Ravichandran, the branch's deputy general manager, confirmed the banks' findings and complained to the CBI.