The Hindu : NRI held by CBI on cheating charges

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Sunday, Nov 16, 2003

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NRI held by CBI on cheating charges

By Our Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI NOV. 14. A non-resident Indian (NRI) has been arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation on charges of cheating a Delhi-based businessman and his son of over Rs. 65 crores. According to the CBI, Antony Fernandez, a native of Nagarcoil in Tamil Nadu, was produced in the court here on Friday and remanded to 14-day judicial custody.

In the early 1990s, Mukesh, a British citizen who owns several department stores in the United Kingdom and Ireland, decided to invest in India hoping for better returns and gave his father, Anand, the power of attorney for the purpose.

In 2000, Anand approached an agent, who promised him good returns on bank deposits. With the help of another man, who happened to be Antony, Anand transferred nearly Rs. 12.5 crores from Mukesh's account in Delhi to the Nagarcoil branch of Federal Bank. The money was put in fixed deposits for three years.

However, Antony kept the deposit receipts with him and allegedly gave Anand fake documents.

Antony then opened a joint account along with Mukesh in the Nungambakkam branch of the State Bank of India in Chennai. He produced a forged letter as one issued by Mukesh. He got away without filling up the necessary forms and providing Mukesh's specimen signature.

A day after the account was opened, Antony got Rs. 12.6 crores - kept in Mukesh's account in the Federal Bank - transferred to the "joint" account and withdrew part of it in cash. The rest of the money was siphoned off by means of cheques and demand drafts.

Antony employed this modus operandi several times and induced Anand to transfer about Rs. 25 crores from his son's account to the "joint" account. Again, fixed deposits were made in joint names. Antony would withdraw the money prematurely or take loans against the deposits.

The truth came to light in October 2002 when Mukesh received a letter mentioning the details of some of the deposits held by him and Antony. Anand and Mukesh contacted the bank but the issue remained unresolved. Finally in September, Antony asked them to come to Thiruananthapuram to settle the matter. He gave them a demand draft ffor $19.7 million as one issued by the Canadian Imperial Bank, Toronto. This was meant to be in lieu of the funds siphoned off by Antony from 18 fixed deposits.

However, when the draft was deposited with the HSBC Bank in Delhi, it turned out to be fake. Anand and Mukesh then approached the CBI.

Investigations revealed that Antony had run a placement agency in Nagarcoil and sent people to the Gulf countries till the late 1980s.

In the early 1990s he went to the United States, and thereafter amassed a huge amount of wealth. He owned a 50-acre farm in Canada, plantations near Kanyakumari and several companies. He was also arrested in 1994 for violations of the Foreign Exchange Regulation Act.

Our Thiruvananthapuram Staff Reporter writes:

Kerala link

Kerala police have launched an inquiry into the affairs of Antony Joe Kingsley Fernandez. He was recently in the limelight in Kerala as one of the organisers of the high-profile `Global Kerala Festival 2003' conducted in London in association with the State Department for Non-Resident Keralite Affairs (NORKA).

As the `chairman of the organising committee - India' he was instrumental in taking a 200-member delegation, including State Ministers, senior politicians, bureaucrats, journalists and artists to the U.K. to take part in the festival, which was meant to create ''investor interest'' in Kerala. Earlier, the website of the festival was inaugurated in Thiruvananthapuram by Union Minister Sushma Swaraj.

The logo was released by Chief Minister A. K. Antony. The State Ministers who were part of the delegation to the U.K. included M. M. Hassan, Cherkalam Abdulla and M. V. Raghavan.

A top police official told The Hindu that a CBI team was in Kerala and Tamil Nadu recently to enquire about Antony's ''associates, assets and antecedents''.

He said that the State police are collecting details of his affairs in Kerala, especially those they believe involved possible threats to national security.

Police sources said that there are cases of cheating, assault and fraud pending against Antony in Kanyakumari district. Some bank officials figure as co-accused in these cases, they said.

Some officials, including Keralites attached to certain banks in Chennai and Nagercoil are being probed in connection with the CBI case.

The charges include cheating and forgery, under Sections 120 (b), 409, 420, 467, 468 and 471 of the Indian Penal Code.

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