New Delhi: The Economic Offences Wing of Delhi Police has arrested the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of Anil Ambani-controlled Reliance Power Ltd and two other accomplices for duping Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) by using forged bank guarantees to secure tenders, according to a statement issued by the police on Tuesday.
Ashok Kumar Pal, the 50-year-old CFO of Reliance Power Ltd, Partha Sarthi Biswal, managing director, Biswal Tradelink Pvt. Ltd of Odisha and Amarnath Dutta, a resident of Kolkata, have been arrested for using forged bank guarantees issued by foreign banks and fake SBI endorsements to secure the SECI tender for Reliance Power, according to a Delhi Police statement.
The case was registered on the complaint filed by Biblesh Meena, Manager, Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI), a public sector undertaking, under the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, alleging that Reliance NU BESS Ltd, a subsidiary of Reliance Power Limited, submitted two forged bank guarantees of Rs. 68.20 crore each during a tender process.
These guarantees were purportedly issued by foreign banks, namely ACE Investment Bank, Malaysia, and FirstRand Bank Ltd., Manila, Philippines, and their authenticity was falsely supported by fake emails and fabricated Structured Financial Messaging System (SFMS) confirmations purportedly from SBI, which were later denied by the bank.
The investigation revealed that senior officials, including Ashok Kumar Pal, CFO of Reliance Power Ltd., allegedly conspired with intermediaries to arrange the fake bank guarantee, paying large sums to create forged documents and obtain endorsements.
During the investigation, it was revealed that the Reliance Power CFO conspired with Partha Sarathi Biswal, Amar Nath Dutta, and others to arrange forged bank guarantees from foreign banks to secure the tender with SECI.
A team was formed, including investigating officer Inspector Laxman Kumar, SI Ghanshyam, to arrest the accused persons under the supervision of Subodh Kumar Goswami, DCP of the economic offences wing. The three accused were arrested on April 15 and have been remanded in police custody till April 23.
(IANS)
