Bizman gets 7-year jail term in Rs 4 crore bank fraud case in Chennai

CHENNAI: The CBI court in Chennai on Friday convicted and sentenced two private firms and two individuals in a bank fraud case, and sentenced one of the accused to seven years rigorous imprisonment (RI).

The guilty are M/s Afrina Steel Rolling Mills, M/s Basheer & Co, the owners of the firms, Nazeer Ahmed and Ashik Arafath. Nazeer Ahmed has been sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for 7 years and to pay a fine of Rs 40 lakhs, while his associate, Ashik Arafath, has been sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for 1 year and to pay a fine of Rs 20,000. Further, the court had also imposed a fine of Rs 20 lakh each on both the firms.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) registered a case in September 2010 based on a complaint from the Chief Vigilance Officer, Canara Bank, Bengaluru. The complaint alleged that the accused private companies were partnership firms run by Nazeer Ahmed, his wife Fathima Riswana and Ashik Arafath.

The accused entered into a criminal conspiracy with T Rajendran, the Chief Manager of Canara Bank in the Kilpauk branch and KS Ashok, a Panel Valuer of Canara Bank. Both Rajendran and Ashok, with criminal intention, misused and abused their official position as public servants, and showed undue favour to the accused private companies during the year 2007-08. The accused persons submitted fabricated documents and availed a loan of over Rs 4 crore from the bank.

The bank officers died during the trial; thus, charges against them were abated, while Fathima Rizwana was found not guilty and acquitted.