CBI files case against Rotomac for cheating Bank of India of Rs 806 crore

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has filed a case against pen manufacturer Rotomac Global Pvt Ltd and its promoter Vikram Kothari, his wife Sadhna Kothari and and son Rahul Kothari for allegedly cheating Bank of India of Rs 806 crores, people familiar with the development said.

This is the third CBI case against the Rotomac group, run by Kanpur based Kotharis, for cheating banks.

In February 2018, CBI filed its first case against Rotomac and Vikram Kothari for allegedly cheating a consortium of seven banks including Bank of Baroda, Indian Overseas Bank, Union Bank of India, Allahabad Bank, Bank of Maharashtra and Oriental Bank of Commerce and Bank of India for allegedly defrauding them of Rs 3,695 crore.

It was alleged that Kothari got loans disbursed based on foreign letters of credit (FLCs) on the pretext of making payments to his buyers and suppliers in places like Dubai, Sharjah and Hong Kong but they didn’t exist.

The Kotharis allegedly provided incomplete documents or photocopies of bills of loading to the banks on the pretext that original papers were sent to the importer.

The banks had alleged that Rotomac did not attach the packing list, mandatory insurance copies of goods, certificate of origin of goods, or the inspection certificate from third parties while submitting documents to it. When bank officials visited Rotomac’s suppliers and buyers abroad, they found that the import/export business was allegedly running through shell companies.

Later, a second case was registered in February 2020 against the company for allegedly cheating Allahabad Bank of Rs 36 crore.

In the latest FIR, CBI has alleged that the company took loans over a period of time from Bank of India for which there is outstanding of Rs 806 crore.

It has been alleged that company diverted most of the funds taken from the bank.

With three cases registered by CBI, total amount pertaining to bank fraud involving Kanpur based Kotharis comes to around Rs 4,500 crore.

Kotharis’ legal representative could not be located by HT.