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CBI books ex-Aircel promoter, son, brass of three PSBs in loan fraud case

NEW DELHI: C Sivasankaran ’s Siva Group of Companies , in connivance with IDBI Bank ’s former CMD M S Raghavan , its former MD-CEO Kishor Kharat, then deputy MD Melwyn Rego and others availed two loans for the group’s offshore companies even though performance of one of the borrower companies showed “stress” and was eventually granted voluntary bankruptcy by a court in Finland.The first loan of Rs 322.40 crore from IDBI was issued to Siva’s Finland-based company Win Wind Oy (WWO) in October, 2010, which became a non-performing asset three years later.Undettered by WWO going into liquidation, IDBI Bank sanctioned another loan of Rs 523 crore to Siva Group company Axcel Sunshine Limited , based in British Virgin Islands, a tax haven, in February 2014.“This second loan was allegedly used for repaying other loans of other associate companies of this group in flagrant violation of the regulatory guidelines of RBI on foreign investments in India. This loan turned into non-performing asset (NPA) in 2015”, said CBI spokesperson Abhishek Dayal.In a statement, IDBI Bank said on Thursday that “the loan has been fully provided for and it has initiated recovery actions to recover dues from the borrower in August 2016.”“CBI in this context has been examining certain documents relating to the loan given by IDBI Bank and have spoken to senior officers of the Bank who had handled the case. The officers are providing the requisite information and clarification to investigating authorities,” said IDBI Bank.Siva’s companies named in the FIR include British Virgin Islands based — Broadcourt Investments and Lotus Venture Investments, Mauritius-based Indian Telecom Holdings, Singapore-based Siva Palm Corp Ltd and India based - Siva Industries and Holdings Ltd, Win Wind Power, Planet Pickles, Sterling Agro Product and Processing Pvt Ltd and Siva Industries.CBI raided 50 places on Thursday, including residences of former and serving senior IDBI Bank officials.