Former CMD of State-owned National Textile Corporation (NTC) Ramachandran Pillai allegedly allowed reduction of the rental of a leased property at a prime location in Mumbai from Rs90 crore to Rs2 crore and he sold the same property for a meager sum Rs17 crore to a private company. The CBI has registered a Preliminary Enquiry (PE) and started a probe into the mega scam.
In its PE, the CBI has named former NTC CMD Ramachandran Pillai and New Jack Printing Press Private ltd, a private firm, for causing a loss estimated to be in hundreds of crores of rupees to the exchequer, CBI sources said.
Pillai allegedly committed gross criminal misconduct by favouring the company in ensuring that ownership rights of the plot owned by NTC in Parel area of Mumbai were transferred to the company at a throwaway price. Pillai also allegedly thwarted competitive bidding to favour the company.
The plot measuring 4,080 square metres in Parel area was leased out to New Jack Printing Press Private ltd but the firm did not pay the rent for years together and the same accumulated to Rs 90 crore. The NTC agreed for a rent settlement at Rs 2 crore in an arbiteration proceeding. The settlement was never challenged by the PSU raising questions over the intention of the corporation to realise its due from the private firm.
The valuable commercial property was sold to the firm in December 2007 for just Rs 17.5 crore, an amount way below the accumulated rent and market value.
CBI has alleged that Pillai was the Chairman of the various assets sales committee meetings held to deal with the issue but the minutes of meeting were not signed by any of the members except him.
The committee allegedly changed its stand repeatedly in disregard of existing norms and sold property to the company.
The agency has alleged that NTC manipulated the sale of land by restricting the competitive bidding by including a clause that only those parties and developers who had purchased land from NTC earlier can purchase and exploit it for their projects.