Hello and welcome to Open Shots Daily and today's episode, we talk about the biggest scam of 2020.

This week, the CBI booked a Hyderabad based company, Tranced Dry India, and its directors for an alleged bank fraud totaling seven thousand nine hundred and twenty six crore rupees. For context, the Nirav Modi scam involves seven thousand seven hundred crores. So, yes, we need to talk about the story because this is likely going to turn into another bad loan.

What is Thailand's dry runs dry as a company from Hyderabad. It was incorporated in 2001 and it had interest in the infrastructure sector. And considering one of the directors happened to be a former MP from on the British, they had no problems accessing loans and government contracts. But there are many allegations surrounding the company right off the bat. In fact, when TransGrid bagged the ill fated palabra irrigation project and on the British, many cried foul over the decision. It was alleged that France dry and its Russian joint venture partner had submitted fake documents claiming they had built dams and irrigation projects in Kazakhstan, Russia and China.

But after the government stated that it had sent a team of engineers to verify these assertions, they eventually greenlit the decision, although it was later revealed that Brown's dry officials had accompanied the team on the visit to Russia. So make of that what you will. Anyway, the point is there was definitely something going on at runs dry and eventually a forensic audit blew the lid off the whole scheme. According to the report, the accused borrowed nine thousand rupees from multiple banks over the years and then floated several nonexisting companies in a bid to execute an elaborate plan to divert funds.

Aspell one report in the news media. The accused apparently named maids, sweepers and drivers as directors of these absolutely fictitious companies. And look, you can just use these directors to siphon funds. If you are serious about this gig, you have to start cooking the books. And if another CBI report from 2019 is to be believed, they did exactly that. The company apparently made total purchases worth about 2500 crore rupees between 2016 and 2017. But here's the thing.

These were what the receipts should to be absolutely certain that they actually made these purchases. You have to verify them independently. However, when investigators from Ernst and Young demanded the company to furnish more details about these purchases, they went and provided with any. In fact, according to Evites estimates, the company only made purchases worth two hundred and seventy crore rupees. The rest, well, that was most likely made up. In another egregious case, the company apparently purchased multiple machines with identical engine serial numbers from two different windows.

Now, bear in mind, you can likely buy two machines with the same engine numbers. It's highly unlikely. And while the company in its reply claimed that this was merely an oversight, it's hard to believe this statement, especially when you consider these other discrepancies. As one report notes, quote, In connection with one of the documents related to Palabra Irrigation Project, the CBI expressed shock on learning that Tranced Dry, who was the contractor, had stored Stockwood 1753 crore rupees at the irrigation site.

It is not clear as to how such huge stock can be stored at project premises. The CBI said uncaught. And that's right. It's not all clear how this could be possible.

Imagine storing Stockwood one thousand seven hundred and fifty three crore rupees in just one place. At Pottruck cost 30 like rupees. You would have to have gold started to trucks all lined up at the same time to have so much material in one project site. Speaking of gold plans, Dry also paid out five crores for gold and silver articles. And while the company states that this was merely a donation to goddess Padmavati, the banks allege that this was a clear cut case of misappropriating funds.

And they succinctly noted, quote, Donating the gold to the temples is not the purpose for which the money is lent by the consortium of banks, unquote. But wait, we are not done yet. In another case, the company is alleged to have purchased and supplied steel using auto rickshaws. In another instance, CBI investigators found the company had delivered several metric tons of material using two wheelers. And while we could go on and on about these discrepancies, it really doesn't do much except drive home the point that this is probably another case where public funds were diverted for private gains.

Thank you for listening to today's episode, Finch Daily is available on a bunch of streaming platforms such as Spotify, Apple Vodka's and Google podcasts. So make sure you follow us on your favorite podcast, Gleaming Platform until next time.