CFOs of First Leasing held in bank fraud case

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Monday arrested the current and former Chief Financial Officers of First Leasing Company of India Limited (FLCIL) here in connection with a Rs. 500-crore bank fraud case.

K S V V Prasad, Joint Director, ED, Chennai, told The Hindu , “S Dilliraj, Ex-Vice-President and CFO of FLCIL and L Sivaramakrishnan, the erstwhile CFO of the firm, were arrested under the provisions of Prevention of Money Laundering Act.”

Farouk M. Irani, ex-Managing Director of First Leasing Company of India Limited, who is known as the father of Indian leasing in business circles, was arrested by the ED in June.

“Both Dilliraj and Sivaramakrishnan were the key persons in the organisation and were involved in negotiating with the banks to obtain loans. They admitted to have fudged accounts under the instructions of their then boss Mr Farouk Irani,” Mr Prasad told

The Hindu .

It is learnt that searches were conducted at the residence of Mr. Dilliraj in Hyderabad and Mr. Sivaramakrishnan’s house in Chennai where some documents were recovered. They have been remanded to judicial custody till August 11.

“Investigations are in progress and some more people are being questioned,” said Mr Prasad.

First Leasing Company of India is registered under the Companies Act, 1956. It is a non-banking financial company registered with the RBI. In 2013, the company told its bankers about a Rs. 1,000-crore gap in its balance sheet, following which RBI directed the firm to cease operations.