Cox & Kings directors booked for ₹106 crore credit card fraud

Mumbai Police's EOW has filed a case against former Cox & Kings executives for defaulting ₹106 crore in credit card payments to SBI Cards.

MUMBAI: The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the Mumbai Police has registered a case against the former directors and senior executives of global travel company Cox & Kings Ltd for allegedly defaulting on credit card payments totalling ₹105.93 crore owed to SBI Cards and Payment Services Ltd.

Cox & Kings directors booked for ₹106 crore credit card fraud

Among those named in the FIR are former directors Ajay Ajit Peter Kerkar, Urrshila Kerkar, Anthony Brutan Good, Pesi Patel, Mahalinga Narayan, former chief financial officer Anil Khandelwal, internal auditor Naresh Jain, and an as-yet-unnamed statutory auditor of the now-bankrupt company. The case has been lodged at the Andheri police station under several sections of the Indian Penal Code, including cheating, criminal breach of trust, forgery, and criminal conspiracy.

According to EOW officials, Cox & Kings had been availing of corporate credit cards issued by SBI Cards since April 2013. The cards, which were issued in the names of authorised company employees across Maharashtra, Delhi and Karnataka, were used to pay for business travel expenses such as airline tickets and hotel bookings.

Between May 2013 and November 2018, the cards were used to make transactions worth ₹1,541 crore. Of this, the company repaid ₹1,467 crore, leaving an outstanding balance of nearly ₹106 crore. Police said the credit limits on these corporate cards had been raised periodically, with some going as high as ₹90 crore per card.

Under the terms of the agreement, if dues were cleared within 45 days, no interest was charged. However, delays attracted a late fee of 4% and a 3.5% Goods and Services Tax. Any account unpaid for over 90 days was treated as a non-performing asset (NPA).

The default began in June 2019, shortly before Cox & Kings declared bankruptcy. Investigators allege that the company manipulated its financial statements by inflating receivables to misrepresent its financial health. This, they say, enabled the company to continue obtaining credit from banks and non-banking financial institutions (NBFCs), including SBI Cards.

“We have registered a case based on a complaint from SBI Cards’ legal department. The company not only defaulted on repayments but also allegedly committed forgery to project a false image of financial stability,” said an EOW officer.

The police have booked the accused under Sections 406 (criminal breach of trust), 420 (cheating), 465 (forgery), 467 (forgery of valuable security), and 120B (criminal conspiracy) of the IPC. Further investigation is underway.