Aircel ex-promoter’s firms booked for Rs 600-cr fraud

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, April 26 

The CBI has registered a case against former Aircel promoter C Sivasankaran’s two companies and MDs and CEOs of Syndicate Bank and Indian Bank for allegedly defaulting on loans worth Rs 600 crore sanctioned by IDBI Bank, officials said on Thursday.

Sivasankaran’s firms —Axcel Sunshine Ltd and Finland-based WinWinD Oy— had allegedly taken a loan of Rs 530 crore in February 2014. The amount increased to Rs 600 crore after becoming a non-performing asset, they said.

Former IDBI CMD Kishor Kharat, presently MD and CEO of Indian Bank, and Syndicate Bank MD and CEO Melwyn Rego, who was Deputy MD of IDBI Bank, have also been booked by the CBI in the case, the officials said.

They said the agency carried out searches at 50 locations, including the residences of former IDBI Bank officials. The searches were spread across Delhi, Faridabad, Mumbai, Gandhinagar, Chennai, Bangalore, Belgaum, Hyderabad, Jaipur and Pune, the officials said.

The case was registered under sections relating to criminal conspiracy, cheating and corruption against British Virgin Islands-based Axcel Sunshine Limited on allegations of perpetrating fraud through the loan accounts of Win Wind Oy, Finland and Axcel Sunshine Limited, the officials said.

They said 15 senior officers of IDBI bank, including retired officials, and 24 private officials, including directors and chairmen, and their companies have been booked. 

Raids in 10 districts

• The agency carried out searches at 50 locations in 10 districts, including the residences of former IDBI Bank officials
• CBI officials said 15 senior officers of IDBI bank, including retired officials, and 24 private officials, including directors and chairmen, and their companies have been booked

(with agency inputs)