Abu Dhabi Court’s order indicting NRI industrialist BR Shetty and his former CEO Prasanth Manghat of around 5.4 Billion Dollar compensation, exposes the role of their co-accused Bank of Baroda in siphoning huge money, violating anti-money laundering norms. The 209-page order of Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM) Court of First Instance mentions 249 instances of illegal money transfers happened through Bank of Baroda (BoB). As the Bank has settled the case by paying compensation of Rs 5,700 crore in July 2026, the ADGM Court in its November 5 order avoided indicting BoB, while detailing the huge illegal money trail, used by Shetty to purchase huge assets across Gulf, chartered flights and Wyoming oil field in Texas.
The judgment analysis the illegal money trail and parking through Bank of Baroda’s Abu Dhabi offices by BR Shetty and his companies linked to NMC Healthcare, now facing insolvency case for 2012 to 2020 transactions. Bank of Baroda was represented by noted lawyer Harish Salve and the court has rejected Shetty’s arguments that he was cheated by former CEO Prasanth Manghat and top officials of Bank of Baroda. The order reveals that top officials of the bank were deposed and examined by the ADGM Court.
Bank of “Baroda called fifteen witnesses to give oral evidence and be cross-examined. They included: (i) Mr Palamadai Sundarajan Jayakumar, who was Baroda’s Managing Director and the Chief Executive Officer (the “CEO”) from October 2015 to October 2019; (ii) Mr Devarakonda Ananda Kumar, who was the Chief Executive of Baroda’s Gulf Cooperation Council (“GCC”) Operations from October 2017 to February 2021; (iii) Mr Mahaveer Gupta, who from April 2017 to July 2020 was the Head of Baroda’s Abu Dhabi branch, where Dr Shetty, NMCH, Holding and other NMC companies had most of their accounts during the Relevant Period; and (iv) Mr Jaideep Sharma, who was the Head of Credit at the Abu Dhabi branch from September 2016 to May 2021,” said the Order passed by Justice SIR Andrew Smith.
The order also quotes the various meetings held by BR Shetty and top officials of the in 2019 in Mumbai. “There was a meeting between Dr Shetty and Mr Jayakumar on 18 March 2019 at Baroda’s offices in Mumbai, Dr Shetty having flown there from Assam. Dr Shetty … visited Baroda’s corporate office in Mumbai when he was in Bombay” and they had “high-level” conversations, the meeting on 18 March 2019, as the JA Claimants argued, “was not an ordinary commercial relationship meeting. Dr Shetty made a substantial detour, for a very short visit to Mumbai, at a critical moment in the March 2019 events specifically to see Mr Jayakumar”, narrates the order, detailing the relation between BR Shetty and top officials of the Bank, when the scam started coming out in public domain.
“As well as the Direct and Indirect Shetty Payments and the misappropriations through NNMC, the JA Claimants plead that the NMC Group’s funds were used improperly for Dr Shetty’s benefit in two other ways: a. First, it is said that he purchased a private aircraft (or an interest in one) with funds deriving, at least in part, from the NMC Group. b. Secondly, it is said that Dr Shetty used funds derived from the NMC Group to buy two plots for development in the Dubai Hills Grove Community, Dubai, and for construction work there,” said the Order detailing how NMC Health Care funds were siphoned by BR Shetty through Bank of Baroda.
“Between 25 March 2015 and 11 December 2019, he improperly received from GGCM’s 9228 account at Baroda payments in the aggregate of AED 54,836,500 into his 2466 account or other accounts, and that these payments were funded not by GGCM but by the NMC Group or Dr Shetty. In particular, the related party transactions processed through the NMC Group’s Baroda accounts alone greatly exceeded the reported related party transactions. Their effect was to give an exaggerated picture of the NMC Group’s commercial activity and cash flow.
“From 2012, the NMC Group would place term deposits with Baroda, and Baroda would grant it overdraft facilities of an equivalent, or almost equivalent, amount. The rate of interest paid on the deposits was lower than that paid for use of the overdraft facilities,” said the order.
On August 3, The Pioneer reported that Bank of Baroda was caught by the ADGM Court for violation of anti-money laundering norms, leading them to settle case by paying compensation of Rs 5,700 crore. The bank has not yet explained why they paid such a huge compensation and how they became accused along with BR Shetty and NMC Healthcare facing insolvency cases from 2020. It is interesting to note that the Bank has not challenged the orders of First Instance Court of Abu Dhabi. In mid-October, BR Shetty (85) has approached Bombay High Court seeking 15 Billion Dollar compensation from Bank of Baroda for cheating and siphoning money in connivance with his former CEO and top officials.