CBI books Surana Corporation, its directors in alleged Rs 2,930 cr bank fraud

The CBI has booked Chennai-based Surana Corporation and its directors for an alleged loan fraud of Rs 2,930 crore in a consortium of six banks led by the State Bank of India (SBI), officials said on Wednesday.

SBI has alleged that the directors of the corporation including its managing director Vijayraj Surana and others had allegedly carried out fraudulent activities that resulted in the financial loss to the bank and the other members of the consortium, they said.

The Surana group had recently alleged that 100 kg of gold seized by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in 2012 from it had gone missing from sealed vaults kept in the company's premises.

The CBI had confiscated 400.47 kg of bullion and ornaments during searches carried out at the office of Surana Corporation in Chennai in 2012 in a case pertaining to alleged favours extended by officials of the Minerals and Metals Trading Corporation of India (MMTC) to the firm in import of gold and silver.

When the vaults, kept in the company's premises, were opened between February 27 and 29 this year in the presence of bank officials and official liquidator for Surana, the seized gold was 103 kg short with CBI seals still intact.

The total dues of the company towards the consortium was about Rs 3161.91 crore but following the release of gold worth about Rs 232 crore by the CBI the anticipated loss has come down to Rs 2,930 crore, SBI has alleged in its complaint which is now part of the FIR.

The bank has alleged that credit facilities were extended to the company for buying gold and selling jewellery and hence, the money should either be in the form of bullion, gold ornaments or receivables from buyers.

Major receivables were written off from the books, it alleged.

The bank said the company created fictitious entries and siphoned off the funds.

It alleged that a stock audit on March 31, 2014, showed that 480 kg of gold was held by sales executives. But on a second visit three months later, the company claimed that all the gold held by sales executives had been brought back and kept in the showroom and factory, the SBI said.

This gold might have been siphoned off, the bank said.

SEBI also looked into the affairs of the company on the basis of a report from DRI which alleged that there was a discrepancy in financial statements and documents pertaining to sale and purchase of goods and stock of goods, SBI said.

"The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) has reported NIL physical stock of gold on October 13, 2014, against the records which state 1147.988 kg of gold stock at the factory. There was only 408.739 kg of gold coated jewellery whose worth is NIL," SBI alleged.

The company records showed gold of 466.096 kg as on March 21, 2015, while physical stock was only 23.510 kg, it alleged.

"The physical stock of gold, security to the banks available is negligible," SBI said.