<p>The state police chief has directed the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) to probe a multi-crore financial scam in a city-based private firm.<br /><br /></p>.<p>As many as 11 officials of Metal Closures Private Limited, including its chief finance officer (CFO) and staff of a consortium of nationalised banks such as SBI, Punjab National Bank, Corporation Bank and UCO Bank, have been accused of misappropriating the company’s funds worth Rs 200 crore.<br /><br />The police have taken up cases of violation of the Foreign Exchange Regulation Act, conspiracy, cheating, theft and the Prevention of Corruption of Act.<br /><br />“We have received an order to probe the case from the Director General and Inspector General of Police Om Prakash. We will form a team, unearth the nexus and financial losses and take stringent action against the suspects,” IGP (Economic Offences) Hemanth Nimbalkar told Deccan Herald.<br /><br />Prashanth Hegde, managing director of Metal Closures, lodged a complaint with the Ashoknagar police on July 22, 2015. <br /><br />He had named CFO Mahesh, DCFO Yogesh K Ural, AGM (accounts) Achchut KS, secretary to MD Bharathi B S, executive Vinod Kumar, senior manager (Finance) Rajendra B R, AGM (Finance) Prahalada Rao, senior manager (Imports) Roney Jacob D’Souza, AGM (Materials) Nagesh, Manjunath, Vijay and others. The police top brass decided to order a CID probe considering the huge financial misappropriation, the CID police said. <br /><br />Metal Closures, manufacturer of packing products for a number of international brands in food, beverages, battery, jackets, flash torches, shoe care, etc, had three manufacturing units in Bengaluru (1977), Kunigal (1992) and Himachal Pradesh (2006). Things were fine till Adishesha was the CFO but they went awry months after Mahesh took over. Prashanth Hegde felt the shortage of working capital and took stock of the situation and was shocked to see huge misappropriation, police said.<br /><br />The suspects used Rs 75 crore as a letter of credit, placed orders using duplicate documents, procured materials from Japan and China and sold them to rival firms and others. <br /><br />They forged Hegde’s signature and other documents, connived with bank officials and diverted the funds. They also used the real-time gross settlement (RTGS) facility and transferred funds, said the cops.<br /><br />“The bankers tried to fix accountability on me when I raised the matter with them. They violated all norms and sanctioned funds based on forged cheques and documents. There was no action by the bank even after complaints to the chief vigilance officers of all the banks. Finally, I moved the Debt Recovery Tribunal against the banks and sought claims. I lodged the complaint with the Ashoknagar police as the suspects started threatening me,” Hedge told Deccan Herald. <br /><br />The police arrested Mahesh and he was remanded in judicial custody. <br /><br />Due to the financial misappropriation, all the three units were shut down and about 750 employees lost their jobs. The employees now anticipate a speedy probe by the CID and action against the culprits so that the three units are restarted and they get back to work. </p>
<p>The state police chief has directed the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) to probe a multi-crore financial scam in a city-based private firm.<br /><br /></p>.<p>As many as 11 officials of Metal Closures Private Limited, including its chief finance officer (CFO) and staff of a consortium of nationalised banks such as SBI, Punjab National Bank, Corporation Bank and UCO Bank, have been accused of misappropriating the company’s funds worth Rs 200 crore.<br /><br />The police have taken up cases of violation of the Foreign Exchange Regulation Act, conspiracy, cheating, theft and the Prevention of Corruption of Act.<br /><br />“We have received an order to probe the case from the Director General and Inspector General of Police Om Prakash. We will form a team, unearth the nexus and financial losses and take stringent action against the suspects,” IGP (Economic Offences) Hemanth Nimbalkar told Deccan Herald.<br /><br />Prashanth Hegde, managing director of Metal Closures, lodged a complaint with the Ashoknagar police on July 22, 2015. <br /><br />He had named CFO Mahesh, DCFO Yogesh K Ural, AGM (accounts) Achchut KS, secretary to MD Bharathi B S, executive Vinod Kumar, senior manager (Finance) Rajendra B R, AGM (Finance) Prahalada Rao, senior manager (Imports) Roney Jacob D’Souza, AGM (Materials) Nagesh, Manjunath, Vijay and others. The police top brass decided to order a CID probe considering the huge financial misappropriation, the CID police said. <br /><br />Metal Closures, manufacturer of packing products for a number of international brands in food, beverages, battery, jackets, flash torches, shoe care, etc, had three manufacturing units in Bengaluru (1977), Kunigal (1992) and Himachal Pradesh (2006). Things were fine till Adishesha was the CFO but they went awry months after Mahesh took over. Prashanth Hegde felt the shortage of working capital and took stock of the situation and was shocked to see huge misappropriation, police said.<br /><br />The suspects used Rs 75 crore as a letter of credit, placed orders using duplicate documents, procured materials from Japan and China and sold them to rival firms and others. <br /><br />They forged Hegde’s signature and other documents, connived with bank officials and diverted the funds. They also used the real-time gross settlement (RTGS) facility and transferred funds, said the cops.<br /><br />“The bankers tried to fix accountability on me when I raised the matter with them. They violated all norms and sanctioned funds based on forged cheques and documents. There was no action by the bank even after complaints to the chief vigilance officers of all the banks. Finally, I moved the Debt Recovery Tribunal against the banks and sought claims. I lodged the complaint with the Ashoknagar police as the suspects started threatening me,” Hedge told Deccan Herald. <br /><br />The police arrested Mahesh and he was remanded in judicial custody. <br /><br />Due to the financial misappropriation, all the three units were shut down and about 750 employees lost their jobs. The employees now anticipate a speedy probe by the CID and action against the culprits so that the three units are restarted and they get back to work. </p>