Police grill FTIL chief Jignesh Shah for 7 hours as ex-CEO sings

Jignesh Shah

Mateen Hafeez TNN

Mumbai: The economic offences wing (EOW) of the Mumbai police on Friday questioned Jignesh Shah, promoter of Financial Technologies India Ltd (FTIL), for seven hours over his role in the Rs 5,600-crore National Spot Exchange (NSEL) scam. FTIL owns the spot exchange.
 

    Shah was questioned by a team of officers and later confronted with former NSEL CEO Anjani Sinha, currently in police custody. “Sinha had initially taken all responsibility for the crisis but now claims that Shah was quite aware of the irregularities in the NSEL. Therefore, we summoned Shah,” said Himanshu Roy, joint CP, crime branch. Police said whether Shah will be arrested will be decided only after his role in the financial scandal is established. 

    Senior police officials said they wanted to learn from Shah how borrowers were selected, besides day-to-day activities of the exchange. “Sinha claims he was under pressure from Shah. We want to know what kind of pressure,” said an officer. 

 

 Shah was aware of crisis: Sinha

Mumbai: Former CEO of NSEL Anjani Sinha has told the police that FTL promoter Jignesh Shah was aware of the impending payment crisis in the exchange.
 

    Shah had earlier blamed the management headed by Sinha for the crisis. Police said no proper system was followed while selecting the borrowers. “Shah has not challenged the investors’ claims of amounts due to them,’’ an officer said. Police are examining email exchanges and minutes of board meetings to ascertain the role played by each one.
 

    Meanwhile, a delegation of the Investors Forum met senior police officials and discussed the case with them. The police have so far arrested four persons—Amit Mukherjee, Jay Bhaukhundi, Anjani Sinha and managing director of N K Proteins Nilesh Patel.
 

    The police said they will be listing all the properties of NSEL and its office-bearers before attaching them. A first information report, based on a complaint by investor Pankaj Saraf on September 30, has been registered for forgery, criminal breach of trust, cheating and criminal conspiracy.

The Times of India, October 26, 2013