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Woman Director Sentenced to 3 Years, Fined Rs 1 Crore in Rs 30 Crore Vijaya Bank Loan Fraud Case
New Delhi: In a major ruling, a special CBI court has sentenced Anitha Mathias, the woman director of Roshan Electrical Pvt Ltd, to three years in jail and imposed a hefty fine of Rs 1 crore in a 2008 loan fraud case involving Vijaya Bank. The court also sentenced Shridhar Shetty, the assistant general manager of Vijaya Bank's Goregaon branch, to one year in jail and a Rs 50,000 fine.
However, Mahesh Kotian, manager of Bharat Cooperative Bank, was acquitted due to insufficient evidence. The case against Anitha Mathias's husband and co-director, Maxima Mathias, was abated due to his death during the trial.
The case, initiated by the Economic Offences Wing of CBI, Mumbai, in March 2012, came to light after Vijaya Bank launched an internal inquiry following an anonymous complaint. According to the prosecution, Roshan Electrical had maintained its accounts with Bharat Cooperative Bank since its inception, benefiting from a cash credit limit of Rs 12 crore and a bank guarantee facility.
In 2008, Maxim Mathias approached Vijaya Bank's Goregaon branch to take over the account from Bharat Cooperative Bank. He sought a cash credit limit of Rs 30 crore and a bank guarantee of Rs 10 crore. Assistant General Manager Shridhar Shetty sanctioned a Rs 20 crore cash credit and a Rs 10 lakh bank guarantee, with Vijaya Bank's regional office approving the proposal based on a positive confidential report from Bharat Cooperative Bank.
However, the prosecution alleged that Kotian, the manager of Bharat Cooperative Bank, deliberately suppressed crucial information regarding the firm's four sister concerns and the number of dishonoured cheques issued by Roshan Electrical.
Furthermore, it was claimed that a term deposit of Rs 3 crore maintained with Bharat Cooperative Bank was supposed to be transferred to Vijaya Bank before the loan disbursal. Despite a sanction of Rs 13.02 crore for the account takeover, Shetty is alleged to have disbursed Rs 21 crore without obtaining the transfer of the term deposit. In fact, reports suggest Shetty released Rs 21.08 crore instead of the intended Rs 13.20 crore.
