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ABG Shipyard scam: Congress questions delay in registration of FIR by CBI
As per the case registered by the CBI on February 7, ABG Shipyard has been booked for causing wrongful loss of ₹22,842 crore to a consortium of banks led by ICICI Bank and comprising IDBI, State Bank of India and others.
Accusing the Modi government of complicity and collusion, the Congress on Sunday questioned the delay in registration of a criminal case by the CBI against a private sector ship building company, ABG Shipyard, and its former chairman Rishi Agarwal for allegedly cheating a consortium of banks to the tune of ₹22,842 crore.
As per the case registered by the CBI on February 7, ABG Shipyard has been booked for causing wrongful loss of ₹22,842 crore to a consortium of banks led by ICICI Bank and comprising IDBI, State Bank of India and others.
Addressing a press conference in Chandigarh on Sunday, Congress general secretary, Randeep Surjewala said the process of liquidation of ABG Shipyard was initiated in the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT), Ahmedabad on August 1, 2017 for bank default.
“On February 15, 2018, the Congress had publicly warned about the scam of ABG Shipyard’s Rishi Agarwal and on June 19, 2019, loan and bank accounts of ABG Shipyard were declared fraud. SBI had filed a complaint to the CBI for registration of FIR against ABG Shipyard’s Rishi Agarwal and others on November 8, 2019,” Surjewala said.
The Congress leader said despite the apparent fraud and swindling of public money, the CBI had complicated the matter in bureaucratic wrangling and file pushing. This happened for years even as the public money went down the drain and fraudsters prospered, he alleged.
“On August 25, 2020, SBI had filed a second complaint with the CBI for lodging of FIR against ABG Shipyard’s Rishi Agarwal and others. After delay of about five years, the CBI on February 7, 2022, finally lodged an FIR against ABG Shipyard’s Rishi Agarwal and others for cheating, fraud and under the Prevention of Corruption Act,” the Congress general secretary said.
Surjewala asked as to why the CBI took about five years after liquidation proceedings of ABG Shipyard to lodge even an FIR for duping 28 banks of ₹22,842 crore.
“Why did the central government refuse to take note of allegations levelled by the Congress in 2018? Why did the finance ministry and the CBI keep pushing files and raising objections for two-and-a-half-years between 2019 and 2022 despite the fraud having been established,” Surjewala asked.
