A whistleblower said the ‘cash credit’ from the bank was spread among family members.
A suspected scam has come to light, in which wealthy Mumbai-based spice and dry fruit traders (known as the Gandhi group) were allegedly ‘evergreening’ their ‘cash credit’ facility at the Mumbai branch of Bharat Cooperative Bank for several years. Evergreen loans refer to the granting of new loans to borrowers who are unable to repay their existing loans.
These Ghatkopar area traders identified as ‘Ms Smart Distributors’ and ‘Ms Nilesh Kumar Vinodchandra & Co’, whose cash credit limit has now been classified as Non-Performing Assets (NPA) by Bharat Sahakari Bank. The bank took this decision on December 13 after both the firms failed to pay the lenders. The documents show that a whistleblower informed the Bharat Cooperative Bank about the alleged ‘stock statements’ and ‘book entries’ submitted by Smart Distributors and Nilesh Kumar Vinodchandra & Company and claimed to hold the stock justifying the ‘cash credit’ received from the bank.
A whistleblower said the ‘cash credit’ from the bank was spread among family members. No verification was shown for spices and dry fruits in third-party AMPC warehouses. It added that the potential scam could be bigger and more prevalent in APMC which has a beeline for godowns.
In the letter, it is alleged that both the borrowers returned the amount from Bharat Sahakari Bank to the concerned party and their own company by showing fake goods in the warehouse of the third party. The whistleblower has questioned whether the tax receipts or challans of the goods bought and sold by the traders have ever been checked by the bank. The bank has also questioned whether the ownership or lease agreement of the APMC premises shown to them has been proved.
The whistleblower said that Nilesh Kumar Vinodchandra & Co. (NVC) had shown a certain shop D-7, APMC Market = 1, Phase 2, which was sold to Girdharlal & Sons about four years ago. However, the statement submitted in September 2024 still mentions the above address. There is no lease agreement between Girdharlal & Sons and NVC.
Other details submitted by the company show the address D-9, APMC Market. The warehouse belongs to Kisan Kirti Agro Pvt Ltd, whose promoter Kirti Rana is among the 25 accused in the Rs 62 crore FSI scam at APMC.
Whistleblower reveals modus operandi
In a letter to Bharat Co-operative Bank, the whistleblower said that Smart Distributors and Nilesh Kumar Vinodchandra & Company chief director, partners and promoters spent the loan amount from the bank on their son’s company and cross holding or similar related entities. Partners as borrowers.
The borrowers and most of the debtors and borrowers of Bharat Sahakari Bank all lived under one roof in a large bungalow in the grand Rajawadi area of Ghatkopar. It is mentioned in the letter that more than a dozen companies are registered at the same address.
“Please find enclosed with this letter, the stock statement provided by Nilesh Kumar Vinodchandra & Company (NVC) to Bharat Co-operative Bank. Please note that as on August 31, 2024, NVC, which is the borrower. From Bharat Co-operative Bank, Nilesh Distributors ( In sequence no. 4) showing as his sundry debtors Vinod Chandra Gandhi, Chandrakant Gandhi and Vinod Chandra Gandhi are real uncles and cousins of Nilesh Gandhi (65 years and 70 years) who took loans from India Co-operative Bank and loaned to Nilesh Distributors, son’s Co.,” the whistleblower alleged.