ABG Shipyard case: CBI files charge sheet against Rishi Agarwal, others

The CBI on Saturday filed a charge sheet against former ABG group chairman Rishi Agarwal and other individuals and entities in connection with the alleged Rs 22,842-crore bank fraud in the ABG Shipyard Ltd, officials said on Saturday.

In its charge sheet filed before the special CBI court here, the agency has named as accused Agarwal and five individuals and 19 companies including three Singapore-based firms, they said.

The 25 against whom the charge sheet has been filed include a Mumbai-based private company; its chairman & promoter; then chief financial officer of the said company; then vice president (accounts); then assistant vice president (accounts); another person handling the group's offshore entities; then statutory auditor of the company and 18 other entities (India-based companies/firms & offshore entities) in an ongoing investigation of a case related to the alleged fraud of Rs 22,842 crore (approx).

The agency has so far detected alleged diversion of Rs 5,000 crore and has kept the probe open.

Some luxury properties of Agarwal have been seized by the CBI as well, the official said.

The agency had registered the case on February 7 this year under the IPC and the Prevention of Corruption Act on a complaint from the State Bank of India for the alleged offences of criminal conspiracy, cheating, criminal breach of trust and abuse of official position.

"The SBI with an exposure of Rs 2,468.51 crore was part of a consortium of 28 banks and financial institutions led by ICICI Bank. The ABG Shipyard being a major player in Indian ship building industry operated from its shipyards located at Dahej and Surat in Gujarat with capacity to build vessels up to 18,000 dead weight tonnage (DWT) at Surat shipyard and 1,20,000 dead weight tonnage (DWT) at Dahej shipyard, an FIR had alleged.