Chennai: C. Sivasankaran, accused of defrauding the IDBI bank to the tune of Rs 600 crore, has approached the Madras high court to declare as arbitrary exercise of power, the “look out circular” issued by the Union government against him.
When the petition came up for hearing, Justice A.D.Jagadish Chandira posted after two weeks, further hearing of the case, after Special Public Prosecutor N.Ramesh, appearing for Directorate of Enforcement and Srinivasan, counsel for CBI sought time to get instructions.
Petitioner's counsel Vijayan Subramanian submitted that the petitioner was a Seychelles national. Based on a complaint from one Praveen Sinha, the CBI registered a case under various provisions of IPC and PCA. In the FIR, it was stated that based on the directions issued by the Chief Vigilance Commission, requiring CBI to investigate into the sanction of a loan to one M.s Win Wind Oy, Finland, by the IDBI in violation of the guidelines, instructions and procedures and after such loan came to be declared NPA to the extent of Rs 393 crore, a further loan of Rs 530 crore came to be disbursed by the IDBI in violation of norms and guidelines to one M/s Axcel Sunshine Limited, another entity of the same group of companies, thereby causing a wrongful loss of more than Rs 600 crore to the IDBI bank.
The petitioner's name was erroneously included in the FIR as C.Sivasankaran, chairman of Siva group of companies. Immediately, he gave a statement to assist and clarify the investigation undertaken by the CBI, in relation to the loan transaction between Axcel Sunshine Limited, a company incorporated under the British Virgin Islands Business Companies Act, he added.
Vijayan Subramanian submitted that with regard to Siva group of companies, the petitioner confirmed that as on the date of complaint, he was not a director, shareholder, employee or chairman of the group of companies. With regard to M/s Axcel Sunshine, the petitioner confirmed that he had never been a director, shareholder, employee, promoter of the company. He also confirmed that he had played no role in the loan transaction. While so, when the petitioner had on August 6, 2018, landed at the Chennai international airport, he was not allowed to proceed further and was informed that there was a “look out circular” on him issued by the Union government.
Thereafter, based on his request, the “Look Out Circular” was withdrawn and he was travelling to other countries. In the meantime, he was cooperating with the investigation and appeared before the CBI and ED. While so, on January 27, 2019, when he arrived at the airport to travel to Italy, he was not allowed to proceed further and was informed that there was another “look out circular” issued against him. He has scheduled his return to Seychelles in the first week of July, 2019. Hence, the petitioner has filed the present petition, he added.
