In a bizarre move, NRI industrialist BR Shetty filed a legal suit of $15 billion (Rs 1.44 lakh crore) in the Bombay High Court against Bank of Baroda (BoB) and its top officials and his ex-CEOs for conniving, leading to the collapse of NMC Healthcare, headquartered in Abu Dhabi. Debt sunken Shetty’s move came within three months after BoB paid Rs 5,700 crore, after it was found violating anti-money laundering norms by Abu Dhabi Global Market Courts (ADGMC). BoB was facing the charges in an insolvency case of NMC Healthcare in Abu Dhabi and London courts from 2020.
On July 2, BoB declared to Stock Exchanges that it decided on pay Rs 5,700 crore without admitting any guilt in a bid to close a long-time legal case in foreign courts. Citing the judgment of the Abu Dhabi Court, The Pioneer on August 3 reported that Bank of Baroda was accused for violating anti-money laundering norms. In court proceedings, Shetty accused his CEO Prasanth Manghat for conniving with BoB’s officials, leading to such a huge financial burden during 2012-2020 operations.
The Administrators of Insolvency in ADGMC alleged that BoB’s Abu Dhabi branch facilitated financing arrangements and banking transactions that allowed NMC Healthcare and related 37 entities to conceal their actual financial position. They also claimed that the bank failed to carry out adequate Anti-Money Laundering (AML), Know-Your-Customer (KYC) and due diligence checks, contributing to the continuation of the alleged fraud.
“Claims are brought against Bank of Baroda based on allegations that it acted fraudulently and without proper care in contract (under Article 246 of the Civil Code) and in tort (under Articles 282 and 285 of the Civil Code). Secondly, there are the so-called “insolvency claims”, which are made by the Joint Administrators under Section 251 of the ADGM Insolvency Regulations 2022 (the “IR 2022”) in fraudulent trading against Shetty, Manghat and Bank of Baroda, and under Section 252 of the IR 2022 in wrongful trading against Shetty and Manghat. For present purposes, it is the civil claims that are relevant: it is common ground that they are all governed by UAE law. The insolvency claims are governed by ADGM law,” said the Judgment of Justice Sir Andrew Smith of the Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM) Court of First Instance, Commercial and Civil Division, dated March 25, 2025.
The number of this judgment was quoted by the BoB to the Stock Exchanges without explaining why it paid Rs 5,700 crore in public money as a settlement and not challenged in higher courts. Bank of Baroda was represented by noted lawyer Harish Salve.
Now, two days ago, Shetty filed a lawsuit against BoB in Mumbai High Court demanding 15 billion dollars (Rs 1.44 lakh crores) for the collapse of empire NMC Healthcare. Shetty has sought $5 billion in direct damages, $5 billion for consequential losses, including lost business opportunities, and another $5 billion for reputational damage. The first two claims are against all defendants, while the reputational damages claim is against Bank of Baroda alone. He has also sought 18% annual interest on the amounts claimed.
The suit names 26 defendants, including the bank, 10 of its officials, former NMC executives Prasanth Manghat and Promoth Manghat, their associates, and two Indian companies, Avitis Super Speciality Hospitals Pvt Ltd and SMARD Building Solutions Pvt. Ltd. Shetty accuses the bank of processing suspicious transactions, ignoring repeated anti-money laundering alerts and allowing transfers based on signatures and instructions he claims were forged or unauthorised. The allegations have not been established in court.
Shetty alleged that the bank’s Abu Dhabi branch “advised the Manghat team how to structure and paper those transactions so that they would pass scrutiny”. It also accused the bank of executing “every leg of the round tripping” of funds from NMC. Shetty accused that about AED42 million was allegedly paid to Prasanth Manghat between May 2018 and January 2019 through an account linked to Guide General Contracting and Maintenance. Shetty questions the purpose of these payments and alleges that the bank failed to address compliance concerns.
Shetty claimed that he often signed large numbers of documents presented by people he trusted, sometimes signing between 100 and 200 documents a day. He alleges that some signatures were obtained by misleading him, while others were copied electronically or forged. He also alleges that two accounts were opened in his name at the National Bank of Fujairah in December 2017 and March 2019 without his knowledge. The documents used to open the accounts allegedly carried forged signatures and authorizations. He claimed that the accounts were later used to move money from group companies to the Manghat brothers, their associates and companies they controlled.
Citing series of charges, Shetty alleged that Bank of Baroda accepted instructions on his personal account from people who were not authorized to operate it, even though Joseph Pinto was the only authorized signatory. He claims the bank also honoured cheques bearing forged signatures.