CBI files chargesheet in Rotomac case

NEW DELHI: Three months after CBI arrested Rotomac pen promoter Vikram Kothari for cheating a consortium of seven banks of Rs 3,695 crore, the agency on Monday filed a chargesheet in the case naming Kothari, his son Rahul Kothari, and three senior officials of Bank of Baroda.


The agency filed a chargesheet in the special court Lucknow dealing with Rs 456.63 crore loan of Bank of Baroda as the probe into remaining amount is continuing, officials said, adding that more chargesheets would be filed in the case.

Besides Kanpur-based Rotomac Global Pvt Ltd and Kotharis, CBI has charged former AGM of Bank of Baroda SK Upadhyay, ex-Senior Manager Om Prakash Kapoor, and Shashi Biswas, former bank manager.

Kotharis are in judicial custody presently.

The CBI has alleged that the directors of the company misutilised loan funds, issued for packing credit, for other purposes.

A consortium of seven nationalised banks has given bank loans worth ₹2,919 crores 2008 onwards to Rotomac.

The amount swelled to Rs 3,695 crore, including the accrued interest, because of repeated defaults on payment.

The Bank of India had an exposure of Rs 754 crore, Bank of Baroda Rs 456.63 crore, Indian Overseas Bank Rs 771 crore, Union bank of India Rs 459 crore, Allahabad Bank Rs 330 crore, Bank of Maharashtra Rs 50 crore and Oriental Bank of Commerce Rs 97 crore.

It was alleged that Kothari got loans disbursed based on foreign letters of credit (FLCs) on the pretext of making payments to his buyers and suppliers in places like Dubai, Sharjah and Hong Kong but they didn’t exist.

The Kotharis reportedly provided incomplete documents or photocopies of bills of loading to the banks on the pretext that original papers were sent to the importer.

The banks had alleged that Rotomac did not attach the packing list, mandatory insurance copies of goods, certificate of origin of goods, or the inspection certificate from third parties while submitting documents to it. When bank officials visited Rotomac's suppliers and buyers abroad, they found that the import/export business was allegedly running through shell companies.

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