The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Monday questioned Rishi Agrawal, the former Managing Director and Chairman of ABG Shipyard in relation to the Rs 22,848 crore scam.
The CBI on February 7, had registered an FIR against ABG Shipyard after the State Bank of India (SBI) filed a complaint against the shipbuilding firm on August 25, 2020, in the case. Apart from Agarwal, CBI has also named then executive director Santhanam Muthaswamy, directors Ashwini Kumar, Sushil Kumar Agarwal and Ravi Vimal Nevetia and another company, ABG International Pvt Ltd, for alleged offences of criminal conspiracy, cheating, criminal breach of trust and abuse of official position under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the Prevention of Corruption Act, in the FIR.
Termed as India's largest banking fraud, the scam came to light after audit agency Ernst and Young LLP (EY) submitted its report in January 2019, flagging that the scam took place between 2012 and 2017. Following this, SBI raised the issue in June 2019 however an FIR was filed by the bank in November 2019. A more comprehensive FIR was filed in December 2020. Meanwhile, searches have also been conducted in 13 locations of ABG Shipyard.
ABG Shipyard owes Rs 7,089 crore to ICICI Bank, Rs 2,925 crore to SBI, Rs 3,639 crore to IDBI Bank, Rs 1,614 crore to Bank of Baroda, Rs 1,244 crore to Punjab National Bank, Rs 1,327 crore to Exim Bank, Rs 1,244 crore to Indian Overseas Bank and Rs 719 crore to Bank of Baroda, among others.
