EOW negates HSBC’S fraud claims
Economic Offences Wing (EOW) officials investigating the `330 crore cheating case filed by HSBC against Avitel Studioz, have pointed out contradictions that led to the case being dropped. The police had recently filed a closure report in the case.
An officer said that the bank itself offered to invest the amount after a loan option — seen as too costly by Avitel — was rejected. “Earlier, HSBC offered a loan of the same amount with a 35 percent interest. When Avitel expressed its inability to repay it, the bank offered to buy equity worth `330 crore,” the officer said.
HSBC’s accusation that the studio accessed the funds by “falsely claiming” a tie up with BBC which required an equipment upgrade was also “unreliable”. “The contract between Avitel and HSBC had no mention of BBC, we cannot say the investment was secured making misleading claims. HSBC had also claimed that Avitel had set up a meeting with a poser, John Smith, falsely introducing him to be a BBC representative. However, we found his name was entirely different,” the officer added.
Another claim was that Avitel did not buy the said studio equipment, thereby violating a term in the contract. “However, we came across an e-mail from HSBC to Avitel which said a physical inspection of the purchases and expenses was undertaken by bank officials. There is no explanation why HSBC might go back on their own validation,” an officer said.
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