CBI Books Educomp, Directors For Bank Fraud

The CBI has carried out searches at eight locations in Delhi, Gurugram and Dehradun after registering a case against Educomp Solutions Ltd (ESL), its subsidiary and its directors for allegedly defrauding an SBI-led consortium of 13 banks to the tune of Rs 1,955 crore.

A senior Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) official said that agency sleuths searched the premises of Educomp Solutions, Edu Smart and its directors in the three cities.

The CBI has booked ESL, its Managing Director Shantanu Prakash, guarantor Jagdish Prakash, its subsidiary Edu Smart Services Pvt Ltd and directors Vijay Kumar Choudhary as well as Vinod Kumar Dandona based on a complaint filed by the SBI on behalf of the consortium of banks, he said.

The case was registered on February 10.

According to CBI officials, the account of ESL was declared a non-performing asset in 2016.

In a complaint to the CBI, the SBI alleged that ESL availed various credit facilities from the consortium.

The bank alleged that the accused persons facilitated diversion of funds, got loans to related parties written off, booked sales without contractual obligations, and forged documents not only to get facilities sanctioned from the bank, but also further used them to siphon off funds, thereby cheating the bank to the extent to an extent of Rs 1,955.36 crore.

It has also been alleged that ESL and ESPL, through its directors, forged the tripartite agreements with schools and induced banks for disbursement of term loans by including non-implemented, cancelled or pre-closed contracts in the list of executed contracts.