Religare Fund Diversion: How It All Happened

New Delhi: The misappropriation of Religare Group's fund to a tune of Rs 3000 crore was a calibrated plan, allegedly crafted by Singh brothers. The duo, Malvinder Mohan Singh and Shivinder Mohan Singh were the alleged lynchpins behind the fraud, who reportedly diverted the loans to other intermediary firms controlled by the brothers.

Singh brothers were recently arrested by the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of Delhi Police. EOW had told the Delhi High Court that the Singh brothers had disclosed that an amount of about Rs 1,000 crore had been transferred to various persons from the entities linked to corporate loan book which was then allegedly siphoned off.

IANS in its recent report unfolded Singh Brothers' modus operandi to strip Religare Finvest Ltd. (RFL) bare. The construct of fund diversion was a carefully assessed plan, wherein, original loans were made to various companies which as a matter of fact was controlled by Singh brothers' stockbroker,  N.K. Ghoshal. All these companies were found to be apparently connected and acting as one economic unit.

These companies use to transferring the loan amounts received from RFL to other intermediary companies, allegedly at the order of RFL, to facilitate repayment of loans obtained from it by other third parties, within hours of the receipt of the loan amounts, reports IANS.

A few of the intermediaries identified in the case includes one Platinum Infrastructure Pvt. Ltd. It is believed on the basis of internal inquiries that Platinum is eventually controlled by Singh Brothers. Platinum admitted that its bank accounts statements revealed that a sum of Rs 109.30 crore was received by it, but, the said funds were transferred from its account to another entity known as Prius Real Estate Ltd. Prius Real Estate is also understood to be an entity controlled by Singh Brothers.

On alleged instructions from RFL, the said amount was extended by Singh Brothers in the following manner at the specified interest rate:

On September 2, 2016, Annies Apparel Pvt Ltd was provided Rs 95,50,00,000 at 14.10 per cent annual interest, and on the same date, Gurudev Financial Services Pvt Ltd got Rs 22,00,00,000 at 14.10 per cent, Torus Buildcon Pvt Ltd was provided Rs 3,93,00,000 at 14.60 per cent, and Saubhagyya Buildcon Pvt Ltd Rs 18,56,50,000 at 14.45 per cent interest per annum.