New Delhi: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Friday carried out searches at multiple premises linked to Ratul Puri, his company Moser Baer Solar Ltd (MBSL), and his mother Nita Puri -- sister of former Madhya Pradesh chief minister Kamal Nath -- in connection with a fresh FIR registered against him on Thursday for allegedly cheating a consortium of banks led by Punjab National Bank (PNB) of Rs 787 crore, officials familiar with the matter said.
The agency teams, wearing PPE (personal protection equipment), raided several buildings in Delhi and Noida.
“In the view of Covid-19, all precautions regarding health and safety are being taken while conducting the searches including provision of PPE kits to all the search teams,” CBI spokesperson RK Gaur said.
In the latest FIR, the agency has named Ratul Puri, his father Deepak Puri, mother Nita Puri, the firm MBSL, and six other directors – Bernhard Herrman Gallus, Sunita Mowdgal, Sanjay Jain, Rajesh Khandelwal, Deepak Khandelwal and Sunita Gupta -- as accused.
Apart from PNB, Ratul Puri is accused if cheating six other banks -- State Bank of India, Union Bank of India, Exim Bank, Bank of Baroda, Indian Overseas Bank and Central Bank of India. He is also a key accused money laundering probe linked to the AgustaWestland VVIP chopper purchase scam.
Ratul Puri was arrested in August last year and eventually released on bail in December.
{{/usCountry}}Ratul Puri was arrested in August last year and eventually released on bail in December.
{{/usCountry}}According to the latest FIR registered by CBI, as part of Corporate Debt Restructuring (CDR), MBSL got a total Rs 955 crore from PNB for solar power project based on Amorphous Silicon thin film. A forensic audit carried out by the banks alleged that instead of repaying the of banks’ dues, MBSL invested a sum of Rs 695 crore in Helios Photovoltac Ltd, a related company of MBSL, which had been booking losses since 2011-12.
MBSL also made an interest-free security deposit of Rs 135 crore to Moser Baer India Ltd (MBIL), said the FIR, said.
Subsequently, the FIR alleged, MBSL fraudulently disposed of the primary security of the lenders -- consisting of stock of finished goods, semi-finished goods and raw materials -- to prevent he distribution among the banks.
The banks have calculated the total fraud at Rs 787 crore, which mostly took place in 2013-14.
Puri’s lawyer Vijay Aggarwal declined comment.
Former MP chief minister Kamal Nath last year accused the BJP of orchestrating raids by central agencies and claimed that the investigation against Ratul Puri was “political vendetta”.
In August 2019, CBI registered a bank fraud case against Ratul Puri and Nita Puri 2019 for allegedly cheating Central Bank of India of Rs 354 crore.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) also accused Ratul Puri of involvement in bank frauds amounting to Rs 7,900 crore. In a charge sheet filed last October, ED alleged that Ratul Puri misused funds loaned from the bank to maintain a lavish lifestyle.
The probe agencies have claimed that they had found printouts of emails that allegedly link Puri to corporate entities created to park money received as kickbacks in the AgustaWestland deal.
The AgustaWestland case centres on allegations that bribes were paid to middlemen, perhaps even politicians, when India agreed to buy 12 AgustaWestland helicopters built by Italian defence manufacturing giant Finmeccanica (now known as the Leonardo group) at an estimated cost of Rs 3,727 crore in 2010.
The deal was scrapped in 2014 over alleged breach of contractual obligations and charges of payment of kickbacks.