Ex-Bhushan Power & Steel CMD Singal mastermind of bank loan fraud, says ED's charge sheet

The Enforcement Directorate on Friday filed a charge sheet against former Bhushan Power and Steel Ltd CMD Sanjay Singal and others in a multi-crore money laundering case linked to an alleged bank fraud, saying he was the "mastermind" behind diversion of loan funds.

Special Judge Arun Bhardwaj took cognisance of the charge sheet, which named 24 people and the company as accused, and issued production warrant against Singal for January 21.

ED's Special Public Prosecutor Nitesh Rana told the court in the charge sheet that the company and its directors deliberately defaulted in repayment of loan amount to lender banks as per the time scheduled and their accounts remained continuously irregular.

Rana said that these proceeds of crime were laundered by the way of infusion in form of equity in BPSL, creation of assets in the name of self or his family members directly or indirectly.

"BPSL through its directors availed various credit facilities from 33 banks/ financial institutions between 2007 to 2014 and the outstanding defaulted amount as on January 30, 2018 was rs 47,204 crore. BPSL availed various loan facilities from these banks under the leadership of PNB large corporate branch Chandigarh for different purposes namely working capital, term loan for purchase of plant of machinery, non-fund based term loans etc.

"The company and its directors deliberately defaulted in repayment of loan amount to lender banks as per the time scheduled and their accounts remained continuously irregular. The IT authorities have conducted searches on the premises of BPSL in Chandigarh on December 21, 2014 and found illegal diversion of funds from the accounts of BPSL through various modus operandi," the final report, filed through advocate A R Aditya, said