Rs 8,045-crore bank fraud: SFIO makes 1st arrest in Chennai

CHENNAI: Rahul Surana, another member of Surana business group family, has been arrested by sleuths from Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO) in Chennai, for aggregate loan exposure of nearly Rs 8,045 crore, last week. This is the first arrest of SFIO in Chennai. Rahul’s father Dinesh Chand Surana and paternal uncle Vijayraj Surana were arrested by the Enforcement Directorate during the same time.

Rahul Surana is currently the owner of Madras Super Store. He was also the CEO of Surana Group and senior vice-president of Surana Power Ltd.

He was arrested and remanded by SFIO Chennai Regional Office in connection with siphoning of bank borrowing pertaining to Surana Group of Companies, sources said.

The group consists of Surana Industries Ltd , Surana Corporation Ltd and Surana Power Ltd. These companies were listed in stock exchanges and have once carried out flourishing trade in gold and steel. Surana Corporation was once the largest importer of gold in Tamil Nadu. These companies have made bank borrowings to the extent of over Rs 8,045 crore which remained unpaid and public sector banks have lost the huge amount the company had borrowed and later siphoned off during the last decade. SFIO, after investigation, arrested Rahul Surana based on the evidence of diversion and siphoning off bank loans into his other ventures.

The SFIO is a fraud investigation agency which investigates severe, sophisticated frauds committed by persons or entities. It is an agency particularly tasked with resolving and prosecuting white-collar crimes.

It may be noted that ED last week arrested four persons, including his father Dinesh Chand Surana and uncle Vijayraj Surana in connection with the bank fraud cases involving more than Rs 3,986 crore.

ED initiated money laundering investigation on the basis of three FIRs registered by Central Bureau of Investigation, BF&SB, Bengaluru, with allegations that the companies of Surana Group indulged in misappropriation and criminal breach of trust by manipulation of accounts through fictitious entities and routed funds through the shell companies and siphoned off the funds from the company’s accounts for their personal gains causing loss to the tune of Rs 3,986 crore to the public sector banks.