A Delhi court on Friday rejected the closure report filed by the CBI in a corruption case against leading meat exporter Hind Agro Industries Limited and its directors for allegedly cheating a consortium of banks of about Rs 222 crore and directed the agency to probe the matter further.
The judge passed the directions while taking cognizance of a charge sheet filed by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in a related money laundering case and said there was material in it suggesting the offence was committed.
Special Judge Amit Kumar summoned the representative of the accused company and others, including managing director Sirajuddin Qureshi, for March 24.
The CBI, which had lodged an FIR against the company and individuals, including Qureshi and company’s director Kiran Qureshi, later moved an application before the court seeking closure of the case for want of evidence to prosecute the accused.
In the ED’s case, however, the court noted the submissions made by its Special Public Prosecutor Nitesh Rana that the anti-money laundering probe agency had enough evidence to prove the charges against the accused.
The ED had registered its case on the basis of the FIR lodged by the CBI.
The court observed in its order that the entire closure report “shows that for all the allegations raised in the complaint, the IO (investigating officer) has stated that the same could not be established for want of documents. There appears to be lack of proper investigation on these aspects.”
The judge said the IO did not investigate the aspect that Hindo Agro Industries Ltd. (HAIL) transferred funds only to its sister concerns, that too only on paper, and there was no real business dealing between HAIL and other entities owned by it.
The judge noted there were no actual sales by HAIL to its sister concerns which were shown only on paper. These “bogus” sale-purchase were not investigated, the cout said.
HAIL continued to project its sales to avoid attracting the attention of the lending banks to the actual falling sale figures, and the company diverted bank funds to its sister concerns with the connivance of its directors, the judge said.
“In view of the same, I am of the considered view that the closure report cannot be accepted and it requires for further investigation on the aspects mentioned hereinabove,” the judge said.
The CBI complaint was lodged on the allegation that the accused, in conspiracy with unknown bank officials, caused wrongful loss of Rs 221.72 crore to the consortium of banks on the basis of misrepresentation and concealment of facts and false documents.
After investigation, the CBI filed the closure report on the ground that the accounts turned into Non-Performing Assets (NPA) due to genuine business failure and not on account of fraud.
The CBI had carried out searches at the premises of the accused at five places in Aligarh and Delhi.
The company exports meat and meat products to 55 overseas destinations in Europe, Asia and Africa, mainly to the Philippines, Malaysia, Jordan, Lebanon, Dubai, Egypt, Iran, Denmark and China.
The banks alleged the company misused the concessions of export credit facilities, manipulated sale turnover figures, made major exports to a single party- Farm Land Foods Product LLP and its allied concern Al Fauj General Taj Trading LLC.
