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Investors charge Environment Minister Suresh Prabhu with financial foul play

Sandesh Prabhudesai in Panaji

It is now the turn of Union Environment Minister Suresh Prabhu, the only Shiv Sena minister in the Union Cabinet, to be accused of financial foul play.

The Rs 120 million scam came to light last year in Goa. But a criminal complaint has been filed only now, after gathering necessary evidence and handing it over to the Panaji police.

Gopalrao Mayekar, a former MP, along with eight other investors, has charged the Sena's chartered accountant-banker-turned politician with cheating around 80 investors from Goa, who invested their savings in the Bombay-based Western Indian Financial Services Ltd, a company Prabhu allegedly floated.

The other directors are Nandan Gadgil, Brijbhushan Nagpal and Narendra Kumar, whose whereabouts are not known till date.

The investors, Mayekar says, were attracted by the "participative bill refinancing" scheme WIFSL floated, assuring 20 per cent annual interest, maturity tenure of only 90 days and returns by post-dated cheques, which had a liability for criminal action under the Negotiable Instruments Act.

It was also Prabhu's reputation, they say, which made them believe in the scheme. Prabhu was then chairman of the Saraswat Bank. But the cheques bounced in October 1996, after two regular payments were made.

All enquiries made in this regard proved futile as WIFSL's Nariman Point headquarters in Bombay was found locked while the Panaji office was found deserted.

The investors moved the court in March last year as the post-dated cheques had a liability under the Negotiable Instruments Act, but in vain. Except Prabhu, WIFSL's chairman, none of the company directors could be served notices as they have not been traced till date.

On the contrary, the investors discovered that all the directors "resigned en mass in utmost secrecy", while appointing Yogeshkumar Tiwari as the new MD and Shanti Bai as the new director.

"Tiwari is a dummy appointed by the fleeing directors to fool the law enforcing authorities and investors," alleges Mayekar, an educationist who says he invested his retirement benefits in WIFSL in 1996.

Prabhu sent a letter to all the investors that WIFSL has been 'taken over' by the Adyashakti Group and renamed the AMNET India Credit Corporation Ltd. Enquiries made to the registrar of companies revealed that WIFSL's name has been changed to AMNET.

"It is a tactic to block the court proceedings in a desperate attempt to run away from the responsibilities and avoid criminal liabilities," states Mayekar, who has personally gathered all the evidence, based on which the FIR has been now lodged against the Union minister and others.

But the police refuse to act against Prabhu and others for violating section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act, claiming it is a civil matter. The FIR has, however, been registered against them under sections 420 and 409 of the Indian Penal Code, for cheating and committing breach of trust.

While the criminal suit filed in the court for dishonouring of cheques lingers on, the Goa police do not seem to be in a mood to act on the fresh criminal complaint filed against Prabhu and the others.

As none of the other directors have responded to court notices, the investors are now planning to request the court to move against the Union minister as the sole respondent.

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