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Ambre was convicted under the Indian Penal Code for criminal breach of trust and cheating and under Prevention of Corruption Act for criminal misconduct and dishonestly or fraudulently misappropriating property entrusted to him as a public servant.
As per the chargesheet filed by CBI inspector Joy Damle, a huge amount of Rs 32 lakh was transferred on April 18, 2012 by sanctioning a third party loan by creating fraudulent documents without consent in the name of one Santan Fernandes against two Corporate Debt Restructuring (CDR) of M/s Samruddha Resources Pvt Ltd, Mapusa with the sole motive of preventing the loan account of M/s Universal Marine Works, Vasco from becoming a Non Performing Asset.
The entire episode was related to the audit of the bank’s Vasco branch for the financial year 2011-12, since some loan accounts were not properly categorised by the bank officers, and even though loan repayments were not being made, the accounts were not listed as NPAs.
One of these was the loan account of M/s Universal. The company had applied for a term loan of Rs 4.97 crore for the purpose of construction of a barge. The loan was sanctioned on May 27, 2010 by the bank’s corporate office in Pune and was to be repaid in seven years.
In December 2011, this loan account was to be classified as NPA as it was overdue for more than 90 days, thereby affecting the performance of the Vasco branch as well as the regional office.
Ambre opened a loan account in the name of Santan Fernandes and sanctioned an amount of Rs 32 lakh on April 18, 2014 against two CDRs of M/s Samruddha and then transferred the amount to the Vasco branch to be credited in the current account of M/s Universal without the consent of any parties.
CBI counsel V Srivastava examined 12 witnesses in support of the case and successfully proved that Ambre’s main intention was to show the defaulted loan accounts at the bank's Vasco branch as standard accounts to protect the reputation of the branch and of the regional office at the time of annual audit. Documents created by Ambre and the manner in which they were executed without following normal banking procedure further showed dishonest intention.
The evidence further showed that Ambre acted on the instructions of the regional office and committed the offence only to help another branch and the regional office. There is nothing on record to show that there was any gratification demanded or accepted by Ambre for this act.
Judge B P Deshpande, however, ruled that there is no other material to establish the involvement of other persons in hatching a criminal conspiracy. Material brought on record against the other accused, who are partners of M/S Universal Marine Works, Vasco - Daya Prasad Tiwari, Shailendra Kumar Tiwari and Sarvesh Kumar Tiwari - was found to be insufficient to prove the charges against them.
The judgment pointed out that the material brought on record against the fifth accused, the then regional manager of Goa region of the bank, Prakash Shinde raises some suspicion, however, the same couldn’t prove the charges beyond reasonable doubt.
