Rotomac promoter Vikram Kothari gets bail in loan default case after a year

Rotomac Global promoter director Vikram Kothari is accused of defaulting on loans to state lenders.

The Lucknow bench of Allahabad High Court Friday granted eight weeks' bail to Rotomac Global promoter director Vikram Kothari who is accused of defaulting on loans worth Rs 3,695 crore.

Kothari, who is admitted in a government hospital, was put in judicial custody after being arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on February 23, 2018. 

Justice A R Masoodi also asked Kothari to surrender his passport to the trial court before his release and further directed him to inform about his movement in the country during the bail period.

It asked Kothari to surrender soon after expiry of the eight-week bail period. The court had earlier on November 30, 2018 rejected Kothari's regular bail plea. It had though granted bail to his son Rahul Kothari.

The case relates bank loans worth Rs 2,919 crore from 2008 onwards to Rotomac Global Pvt. Ltd. by a consortium of seven nationalised banks, the CBI FIR has alleged. The amount swelled to Rs 3,695 crore, including the accrued interest, because of repeated defaults on payment, it said.

The instances were allegedly found where the credit sanctioned and disbursed to the company was used for purposes other than execution of the claimed export orders. The CBI had initiated the action on the complaint of Bank of Baroda, which was a member of consortium led by Bank of India, which had approached the agency fearing that Kothari might flee the country like jewellery designer Nirav Modi and his uncle Mehul Choksi.

The principal exposure of the banks regarding the loan is Bank of India Rs 754.77 crore, Bank of Baroda Rs 456.63 crore, Overseas Bank of India Rs 771.07 crore, Union Bank of India Rs 458.95 crore, Allahabad Bank Rs 330.68 crore, Bank of Maharashtra 49.82 crore and Oriental Bank of Commerce Rs 97.47 crore, it said.

Kothari, his wife Sadhana, and son Rahul were named in the FIR.