London: Three NRI Indian businessmen in the UK were on Friday sentenced to 25 years of jail, after they were found guilty swindling banks in Britain and the US of over $700 million.
Virendra Rastogi, along with his two accomplices — Anand Jain and Gautam Majumdar — was sentenced after six years of worldwide investigation carried out by London-based Serious Fraud Office.
Rastogi and his accomplices opened RBG Resources, a metal trading company in Piccadilly, London in 1996 and continued fraudulent operations till they were exposed in 2002.
The company had a web of over 300 'fake' clients around the world, most of them henchmen of Rastogi's. The address of one such client was, in fact, a cowshed in India.
The group used to conduct bogus transactions and furnish fake documents to borrow money from banks in order to get cash advances from various banks around the world.
This racket carried on for six years until one of Rastogi's henchmen from Hong Kong inadvertently pressed a wrong button and faxed some incriminating documents to auditors PriceWaterHouse Coopers instead of Rastogi's office.
The banks became worried and soon Serious Fraud Office based in London began a worldwide investigation.
Byte 1: Alan May, Investigator, Serious Fraud Office: scale of operation- massive
According to the investigators, the Indian link in this case is far greater. They allege that some of Rastogi's family members are also involved.
“We have traced $86 million leaving India,” says investigator Alan May from Serious Fraud Office.
Rastogi himself will spend 9 and a half years in prison. He has been disqualified from acting as a company director for 15 years. There is an outstanding arrest warrant for Rastogi in India. It is not yet clear whether he will appeal against the verdict.
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