SFIO grills Bhushan Steel chairman

New Delhi, March 8 

The Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO) today questioned debt-ridden Bhushan Steel’s Chairman Brij Bhushan Singal with regard to alleged siphoning of funds worth over Rs 1,000 crore, a source said.

The agency, which comes under the Corporate Affairs Ministry, has been probing allegations of fund diversions at the company since last year.

According to the source, Singal was questioned by the SFIO in the national capital in the matter related to alleged siphoning off huge amount of funds.

The diversion of funds is estimated to be more than Rs 1,000 crore, the source added.

Calls made to Bhushan Steel officials for seeking comments remained unanswered.

Debt-laden Bhushan Steel is one of the 12 non-performing accounts referred by the RBI to the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) for insolvency proceedings. The company owes more than Rs 44,000 crore to its lenders.

In recent weeks, the SFIO has been asked to investigate a significant number of companies for fraudulent activities, especially those related to diamond merchants Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi in the Rs 12,700-crore PNB fraud.

Last month, the ministry ordered the SFIO to probe around 110 companies and about 10 limited liability partnerships related to Modi and Choksi. — PTI