MUMBAI: A day after a special CBI court sentenced a conman to life imprisonment for cheating a bank, the same court on Friday sentenced six accused, including a father-son duo, a former assistant general manager of Bank of India and a chartered accountant, to life imprisonment in another cheating case.
Nineteen years ago, Andheri-based businessmen Manoharlal Ahuja (65) and his son Amit (39) had cheated Bank of India by fraudulently procuring a Rs 1.5 crore loan and letters of credit for Rs 1 crore by using false and forged documents and offering a non-existent plot of Versova land as collateral.
Special judge S R Tamboli also found a lawyer, Yunus Memon (64), guilty on charges of criminal conspiracy, forgery and cheating and sentenced him to three years’ imprisonment.The court also fined the Ahujas over Rs 3 crore while the former bank employee, Bhagwanji Joshi (73), was fined Rs 4.3 lakh. Joshi was accused of sanctioning the loan without proper verification. Memon was fined Rs 4.2 lakh.
Special public prosecutor Jitendra Sharma said the Ahujas, who borrowed the money for their clothes lining business, were “habitual offenders”. He said Joshi, too, was earlier convicted and sentenced to two years’ imprisonment in another cheating case.
Sharma said in 2014 the accused repaid a substantial amount but this did not absolve them of their criminal liability. The CBI special task force had registered the case in 2004 after the bank discovered the fraud.
The prosecution said the lawyer was empanelled by various nationalised banks for providing legal opinion on properties offered as collateral security.
“Memon, in his title search report, stated that he had visited the property at Versova and verified with the registrar office. He had claimed in the report that the property had a clear title and it could be mortgaged with the bank. Taking this report into consideration, the bank had considered Ahujas’ loan proposal,” said Sharma. Memon was earlier acquitted in a similar case.
The prosecution said the Versova plot was, in fact, a public joggers’ park and not an open plot as claimed by the borrowers. Claimed to be worth Rs 3 crore then, it did not even belong to co-accused Sandesh Nage (51), who stood as guarantor under a fictitious name.
Nage was also sentenced to life imprisonment along with two others — chartered accountant Mahesh Bohra (63) and Shantilal Chauhan (66). Bohra was fined Rs 94 lakh.
Chauhan was shown as the seller of the property and he also forged its documents. The trio was also convicted in the earlier case with Joshi.
The prosecution said that Bohra, in his capacity as a CA, gave false documents, including a certificate of balance sheets of financial data, to project that the Ahujas were financially strong.
“He prepared the title deed for the Versova plot and at the instance of the bank’s assistant general manager Joshi, he managed to obtain a valuation report of the property through a valuer. He also received the proceeds of crime by opening accounts in the name of shell companies in various public sector banks. He used false names,” said the prosecution.
The court said that if all the seven accused deposit their fine amounts, then Rs 3 crore was to be given to Bank of India, Mandavi branch, as compensation.
While the credit facilities were availed between 2002 and 2003, the fraud was unearthed in 2004. The loan amount was Rs 1.5 crore and LoCs worth Rs 1 crore were issued. The prosecution said an inquiry was conducted after the account in the name of Ahujas’ partnership firm became a non-performing asset. The borrowers had not repaid any of the instalments.
The bank also found that the property could not have been mortgaged. The prosecution further stated that the stock and book debts belonging to the Ahujas’ firm on whose hypothecation the loan was sanctioned were claimed to have burned in a godown fire.
The prosecution alleged that Joshi did not even verify if the Ahujas had past business experience. He also did not use the empanelled valuer to obtain the valuation report of the property and instructed the CA to provide required documents.
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