New Delhi: India’s largest public sector banker – State Bank of India (SBI) has clear air about ABG Shipyard rot. It has said that ABG Shipyard, which was incorporated on March 15, 1985, was declared a non-performing asset (NPA) on November 11, 2013 due to poor performance of the company.
In a statement, the banker said that ABP Shipyard was financed under the consortium arrangement over a two dozen lenders. The leader in consortium was ICICI Bank. “Due to poor performance, the account became NPA on 30/11/2013. Several efforts were made to revive the company operations but could not succeed.”
According to the SBI, the account was restructured under the CDR mechanism in March 2014 by all lenders. However, as the shipping industry was going through a downturn, one of the worst ever seen, the operations of the company could not revive.
“As the restructuring failed, the account was classified as NPA in July 2016 with backdated effect from 30th November 2013. E&Y was appointed as Forensic Auditor by lenders during April 2018 and they submitted their report on January 19. E&Y report was placed before the Fraud Identification Committee of 18 lenders in 2019. Fraud is mainly attributed to diversion of funds, misappropriation, and criminal breach of trust,” said the SBI.
It said that although, ICICI Bank was the lead lender in the consortium and IDBI was the second lead, it was preferred that the SBI being the largest PSB lender, lodges the complaint with the CBI. The first complaint was filed with the CBI in November 2019. There was a continuous engagement between CBI and Banks and further information was getting exchanged.
“The circumstances of the fraud, as well as the CBI requirements, were further deliberated in the various meetings of Joint Lenders and a fresh and comprehensive second complaint was filed in December 2020. The account is presently undergoing liquidation under an NCLT driven process,” said the SBI.
The banker said that a fraud is declared on the basis of the Forensic Audit report findings that are discussed thoroughly in joint lenders meetings. Typically when fraud is declared, an initial complaint is preferred with the CBI, and based on their enquiries further information is gathered. In a few cases, when substantial additional information is gathered, a second compliant incorporating full and complete detail is filed which forms the basis for the FIR. At no point in time, there was any effort to delay the process. The lenders’ forum diligently follows through with the CBI in all such cases, said the SBI. /BI/
