Ahmedabad, Feb 13 (PTI) The Congress on Sunday claimed that ABG Shipyard used MoUs it signed with the Gujarat government during the 'Vibrant Gujarat' investors' summits to "influence" banks and secure loans of crores of rupees from them to commit the "biggest bank fraud".

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The party alleged that those who managed the affairs of ICICI Bank at that time, would visit Vibrant Gujarat Global Investors' Summits, and "blindly" offer loan to the company despite knowing about the fraud.

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'Vibrant Gujarat' is a biennial investors' summit held by the Gujarat government to attract investments. The first such event was held in 2003.

On February 7, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) booked Gujarat-based ABG Shipyard Limited, its former chairman and managing director Rishi Kamlesh Agarwal and others for allegedly cheating a consortium of two dozen lenders led by the ICICI Bank of of Rs 22,842 crore.

Speaking to reporters here, Congress's Rajya Sabha member from Gujarat, Shaktisinh Gohil, demanded a judicial inquiry into the fraud case and also asked the BJP government in the state to take back the land given to the company in Surat at token rate to set up a maritime university, of which "not even a brick is laid."

"Gujarat government entered into MoUs worth crores of rupees with the man (Rishi Agarwal), who shared stage with the chief ministers during all the Vibrant Gujarat summits right from 2003 till 2015. These MoUs were used by ABG Group to influence the banks to carry out the biggest fraud," he said.

The party spokesperson said that in 2003, the Congress had raised an objection with the government over the signing an MoU with Agarwal, but it did not pay heed to the warning.

"The then 'karta dharta' (those at the helm) of ICICI Bank would visit Vibrant Gujarat event, and blindly offer loan to ABG despite knowing about the fraud," Gohil alleged.

The Congress leader said MoUs on paper and fraud of crores of rupees is the reality of the Vibrant Gujarat Investors' Summit.

He said that the CBI has registered an FIR after the BJP took benefit of the fraud "by colluding with them and siphoning off the money".

Gohil said the Congress wants a judicial inquiry to be conducted to identify the real culprits, and also demanded from the government to take back the land in Surat that it said was given to ABG Shipyard for a proposed maritime university.

"Not even a brick of the university has been laid, so I would request the Gujarat government to take action and get back the land before it is lost. A criminal case should be lodged against those to whom the land was given," he said.

The CBI registered FIR against ABG Shipyard, Agarwal and others for alleged offences of criminal conspiracy, cheating, criminal breach of trust and abuse of official position under the IPC and the Prevention of Corruption Act. The bank had first filed a complaint on November 8, 2019, on which the CBI had sought some clarifications on March 12, 2020.

The bank filed a fresh complaint in August that year. After “scrutinising” for over one and a half-year, the CBI acted on the complaint filing an FIR on February 7, 2022. The company was sanctioned credit facilities from 28 banks and financial institutions with the SBI having exposure of Rs 2,468.51 crore.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)