<![CDATA[A nationalized bank has been allegedly duped by three directors of two companies in the healthcare sector to the tune of Rs.69 lakh. A complaint was filed last week by Mr.Kamath P.V., Assistant General Manager, Canara Bank, Cantonment with the Cubbon Park police last week. Action was taken based on the complaint. He accused Milind Naik and his wife Mahalakshmi M. Naik who are on the board of a healthcare company, and Ajay Shroff, a director in the medical equipment firm, of cheating the bank. The 2 Directors had approached the bank a few years ago, claiming to have floated a company that dealt with life-saving equipment, which would be sourced from the firm that Shroff was director. They applied for a loan of Rs.95 lakh furnishing all the necessary documents including certificates from Registrar of companies, KYC documents, and quotations for equipment they were buying, and so on. The loan was approved in December 2016 after verification and on January 4, 2017, Rs.68,90,796/- was credited to their account, Mr. Kamath said in his complaint. The initial Rs.69 lakh was the first part release of the loan. When the second part was to be released, the bank learned that the loan amount taken for purchasing medical equipment had not been used for it, and that the money had been diverted to another investment without the knowledge of the bank. It immediately stopped the release of the second part of the loan, and instead sent notices to the directors. In his statement, Mr. Kamath said though the directors had furnished all documents that were genuine and there was no impersonation, the bank learnt that there was criminal intent to defraud the bank even before the company was floated. Mr. Kamath said that Milind maintained that he had a dispute with the Ajay Shroff and hence could not repay the loan. The police have registered an FIR and investigations are under way while the bank had initiated recovery proceedings against the two companies.]]>
