Bank fraud: Special CBI court in Bengaluru sentences 5 to imprisonment, slaps fine of Rs 22 crore

A special CBI court in Bengaluru has sentenced five persons to varying periods of imprisonment and imposed a total fine of more than Rs 22 crore on them in a bank fraud case, the agency said on Tuesday.

The CBI registered the case 10 years ago on a complaint from United Bank of India, which had suffered losses of Rs 18.34 on the default of a loan by Nexxoft Infotel Ltd.

"The special judge for CBI cases...has sentenced various accused to undergo simple imprisonment ranging from one year to four years for causing loss of Rs 18.34 crore to United Bank of India," the CBI spokesperson said here in a statement.

The court also slapped the five accused with a fine of more than Rs 22 crore. It also imposed a fine of Rs 1 crore on the company, Nexxoft Infotel Ltd.

"G Dhananjaya Reddy, Director of M/s Nexxoft Infotel Ltd, has been sentenced to undergo four years simple imprisonment with fine of Rs 10 crore; K Satyanarayana to undergo four years simple imprisonment with fine of Rs 12 crore; G Nirmala, MD of said private company, to undergo one-year simple imprisonment with fine of Rs 1 lakh.

"Dinesh Kavoor, Director of said private company to undergo one-year simple imprisonment with fine of Rs 1 lakh and Rajesh Kumar Madhav, then AGM, UBI, Cantonment Branch, Bengaluru to undergo one-year simple imprisonment with fine of Rs 50,000," the agency spokesperson said.

The accused company had availed a term loan of Rs 16 crore from United Bank of India for importing software from a Dubai-based company and purchasing software from another private company in Bengaluru.

To avail of this loan, the accused gave exclusive charge over a software package of Rs 21.50 crore and land measuring more than one acre at Sadarmangala village, Bengaluru, as collateral security.

"It was further alleged that the borrower company diverted the funds, and no primary security was created in the account, which became irregular due to non-payment of instalments. The account became NPA w.e.f June 30, 2011, with an outstanding amount of Rs 13.44 crore (approx). This outstanding amount thereafter increased to Rs 18.34 crore (approx) as on April 30, 2013 which was the loss to the bank," the spokesperson said.  The agency filed a charge sheet on December 30, 2013.

The trial court found the accused guilty and convicted them. "Four accused were acquitted by the court and one accused expired during trial," the spokesperson said.