SIKKIM: Four held for Sikkim overdraft fraud


FROM THE TELEGRAPH

Gangtok, Nov. 16: Four persons were arrested today for their attempts to withdraw Rs 85 crore as overdraft from the State Bank of Sikkim by fraudulent documents.

The four arrested — Sunil Rai, Subroto Banerjee, Gautam Das and Sudip Malik — have been charged with cheating, fraud and criminal conspiracy under different sections of the IPC, said S.T. Bhutia, the senior superintendent of police, crime branch.

“We had started investigations into the case after receiving credible information. Today, we registered the case against the four following nightlong raids at their residences,” Bhutia said. He refused to elaborate further.

Sources said the CID seized four cheques drawn in favour of one P.K. Anand — three worth Rs 25 crore each and one worth Rs 10 crore — from the bank, besides documents. The cheques were dated between November 10 and 13. The identity of Ananda is yet to be established.

Investigations reveal that as part of the overdraft deal, the four had provided collateral based on false documents from three companies which are based in different parts of the country but have offices in Gangtok. According to the agreement, the payment would have been made in November 2014.

A probe is on the antecedents of the companies and whether they had adequate funds in their accounts held with the bank. The CID has not ruled out the involvement of bank officials.

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Sikkim Police nabs 4 person in connection to fraud Rs 85 Crore Sikkim Bank Cheque

16 Nov, Gangtok: Sikkim Crime Branch an Investigating authority has nabbed four person Sunil Rai, Subroto Banerjee, Gautam Das and Karma Chewang Bhutia possessing post dated cheque of Rs 85 crore of the State Bank of Sikkim. Two of them Banerjee and Das is identified as a partner of Kolkata based Global Solutions sources said. They planned to invest the said amount in a Coimbatore based company sources further said. It is yet to find out the actual owner guardian or company of the huge amount under whose roof these activity was pre-planned, the necessary investigation are on and Investigating Department is all the way in search of root “King Pin”.

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CID busts refined scam to dupe Rs. 85 crores from SBS

GANGTOK, November 16: Four persons have been arrested by Criminal Investigation Division (CID) of Sikkim police with the crime fighting agency nipping in the bud an outrageous ploy to dupe the State-owned State Bank of Sikkim with an initial amount of Rs. 85 crores.

Sunil Rai, Subroto Banerjee, Gautam Das and Sudip Malik have been arrested under sections 420/423/120 B and other sections of IPC for fraud and submission of forged documents, said Senior Superintendent of Police (Crime Branch) ST Bhutia to reporters here today afternoon.

The CID had started investigations into the case after credible information was received and a case registered against the above four accused even as investigations were being launched. The four were arrested from the Capital in a swoop which continued till late into the morning today.

While Mr. Bhutia said that it was a case of fraud and also an ‘economic offence’, he said more details could not be provided since investigations are still on and the case is in a preliminary stage.

Though nothing much came from the officials on the investigations so far, sources inform that the four accused had tried to withdraw an amount worth Rs. 85 crores from the State Bank of Sikkim (SBS) which would be paid later.

The modus operandi so far reveal that the four cheques were seized from the arrested persons include three cheques worth Rs. 25 crores each while the other one was worth Rs. 10 crores.

One of the cheques for Rs. 25 crores was signed by Sunil Rai, another two worth Rs. 50 crores (Rs. 25 crores each) by the Director of Om Mantra Infra Projects Limited and one cheque worth Rs. 10 crores by United Sales, all of whom operate accounts in the State Bank of Sikkim.

It is yet to be known whether they had money worth the amount in the bank.
The cheques which were payable in favour of one person named PK Anand have been seized by the CID wing. All the cheques were to be paid back in later different dates in November 2014.

Sources also inform that some documents confiscated by the CID reveal that a proposal had been put up by one Auroma Impex, a company who had authorized Global Solutions on behalf of the parent company Excelsior Consultants and Investment company based in Coimbatore to have an understanding with the SBS.

A letter by Auroma Impex has authorized Global Solutions to provide collateral for raising of funds to the extent of Rs. 2,500 crores through International Bills of Exchange (IBOE) issued by the United States Treasury. The letter has also requested the SBS to issue a Letter of Intent (LOI) to accept as Collateral for Rs. 2500 crores on creating Line on Credit from the SBS banking source.

They have also put a term that 50 per cent of the total amount was to be returned to the provider of IBOE and the collateral was to be returned to the US treasury after 5 years and could be renewed for the next 5 years.

In another letter, Auroma Impex has authorized Subroto Banerjee and Gautam Das, partners of Global Solutions, Kolkata to introduce and capitalize on IBOE issued by US Treasury to the SBS Chairman and other high officials.

Sources reveal that those four arrested have been dropping big names even as the investigations are in the preliminary stages. They were today produced in front of chief judicial magistrate (North/East) Gangtok and were sent for police remand for four days.

source: sikkim express
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CID detects financial fraud, arrests four


Gangtok, Nov 16 (PTI) The police today claimed to have detected a Rs 85 crore fraud and arrested four persons in this connection.

Acting on a tip off, a Criminal Investigation Department team arrested four persons here and recovered from their possession four post-dated cheques of the State Bank of Sikkim worth Rs 85 crore which they had planned to invest in a Coimbatore-based company, official sources said.

The accused have been identified as Sunil Rai, Subroto Banerjee, Gautam Das and Karma Chewang Bhutia.

Banerjee and Das are said to be partners of a Kolkata-based company Global Solutions, the sources said.

It was immediately not clear as to the sum mentioned in the cheques belonged to the four accused or they were acting on behalf of some local people or companies, they said, adding an investigation was underway to find out the modus operandi of the accused.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------BJP demands CBI probe in multi-crore scam attempt

Sikkim Express

GANGTOK, November 17: State BJP unit has demanded a CBI probe into the case registered by Criminal Investigation Division (CID) of Sikkim Police against four persons accused of trying to hoodwink Rs. 85 crores from State Bank of Sikkim.
A case of such magnitude which has national security implications should be handed over to CBI so that the crime and the persons involved comes out in black and white, said State BJP vice president Padam Chettri today.
The money could be used for anti-national activities or to fund terrorism, said Chettri asserting the demand for a CBI probe in the case.
It may be recalled that the CID had stumbled into an outrageous ploy to commit the economic crime and had arrested four persons, Sunil Rai, Subroto Banerjee, Gautam Das and Sudip Malik and registered criminal cases against them.

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SBS denies involvement in multi-crore scam

SE Report
GANGTOK, November 21: The State Bank of Sikkim (SBS) has denied and condemned allegations of its involvement in a multi-crore scam.
Denying the allegations as reported in the local media over the past few weeks, the Chief General Manager of SBS, Gangtok, in a press statement, has said that the there is no scam involving the Bank or any of its employees.
“The Bank would like to take this opportunity to assure the public in general, that the accounts which were mentioned in the news reports were opened by the Bank only after following the "Know Your Customer"(KYC) norms prescribed by the Reserve bank of India. The Account holders had filled up the forms and submitted the requisite supporting documents and the account were opened only after proper scrutiny of the documents supplied by the customers. Added to this, the new applicants were also introduced to the Bank by our existing account holders. Further, contrary to report in certain news papers that the account were started with Rs. 500 only, the Bank would like to state that the Current Account are started with an initial deposit of Rs. 5000 and not Rs. 500,” read the press statement.

SBS has further clarified that the issuance of cheque books to the account holders is done to facilitate the smooth operation of the transactions of the account. “This is a normal procedure followed by the Bank in all Current Accounts maintained with us. The cheques issued to the account holders by the Bank become their personal property and the account holders are themselves responsible for the cheques issued by them. The Bank does not have any say in the amount filled in by the account holder and only upon the presentation of the cheque before the teller can the bank vouch for its authenticity.”

Reacting on the newspaper reports about the statement on the reverse side of the cheques on behalf of the SBS making assurances to fulfil the obligation and honouring the cheques on the due date i.e. in November 2014, the Bank has said that these cheques were never presented before the Bank and were not signed or stamped by any official of the Bank. “Even if these cheques were presented for signatures and seal before any official of the Bank, it would still not have been completed since it is not a policy of the Bank to endorse any such cheques in this manner,” it said.

Regarding the issue pertaining to the Internal Bills of Exchange (IBOE), the Bank has clarified its position and said that it does not deal with any Foreign Exchange or IBOEs. “Even if the IBOEs are authentic, the Bank would have to seek permission from the Finance Department of the Government of Sikkim before any transactions are made with regards to the IBOEs. Hence, without proper scrutiny and prior permissions the Bank has no authority to accept any proposals relating to any transactions with regards to any IBOE or Foreign Exchange,” it said.

“The Bank would like to reiterate that there is no "scam" involving the State Bank of Sikkim and any employee of the Bank. These may have been intent to defraud the Bank and any individuals by certain people, but due to the quick action of the Police Department and Criminal Investigation Department (CID) such an attempt was thwarted,” the press statement added.

source: sikkim express