Indian MSME exporter cheated in Italy; 30th such case in past few months
Updated: Nov 04, 2015 01:59:08pm
New Delhi, Nov 4 (KNN) At a time when the sentiments of exporters are already low due to slow global demands, a shocking incident of an Indian exporter from the SME sector being cheated in Italy causing him a loss of more than Rs 60 lakhs has come to the limelight. What is more shocking is that this is the 30th such case in the last few months which has been reported to the Indian Embassy in Italy.
New Delhi based merchant export company, TMA International got a purchase order worth Euro 99441.90 from Italian Companies named New Invest SRL and PUERTO Madero SPA. The term of payment was Cash payment against documents.
“Our export item reached Genoa, Italy Sea Port on October 19, 2015. As per the purchase order, the shipment was released by the port against receiving export original documents,” Director, TMA International, Pankaj Bansal told KNN.
Bansal pointed out that the original documents were sent by them through the ICICI Bank, New Friends Colony Branch.
As per the export policy, the bank to whom the original documents are submitted are supposed to send the documents to the concerned bank in the country where the goods are being exported.
In this case, the concerned bank in Italy was Unicredit Banca SPA and Monte Dei Paschi Di Siena . The home bank sent the original documents to the concerned banks by following all protocols.
“When we contacted our bank (ICICI Bank) for payment of consignment, the bank confirmed that the documents have been delivered,” Bansal said.
Later on, after the consignment was released by the Genoa, Italy sea port customs department post receiving the duly signed original documents, it was learnt that the Italian Bank Unicredit Bance SPA never received the original documents from the Indian Bank.
“What was more horrifying was that the documents were received by somebody in between who signed them and submitted them to customs,” said the horrified entrepreneur.
Bansal, who was co-incidentally in Italy at that time, tried to contact the company there and discovered that there were no such firms existing at the given address.
Now the bigger question was that if the company doesn’t exists at the given address, then how did the ICICI Bank, which is responsible for the delivery of all original documents to the given address after proper verification, misplace the documents or hand them over to the wrong person? Or how did the organization like ECGC verified the buyer?
Soon after finding out that the company was a fraud, Bansal immediately reported the case to the Italian Bank, only to find that they but they did not care to entertain his query much, and seemed disinterested even. In fact, the Unicredit Banca set aside the matter by saying that they had not received any document and they were not aware of any such matter.
Shocked by the whole series of event, Bansal reported the case to the Indian Embassy in Italy where he was told that this was the 30th such case being reported. They had no clue about the culprit even in the previous cases as well. But interestingly they noted that this is the third time that a similar case is being reported concerning the Unicredit Banca.
“The number of such fraudulent cases is increasing. There is definitely a racket going on where fake companies are created and place orders worth lakhs of rupees. After receiving the goods, the companies are no longer traced,” Madan Mohan Sethi, First Secretary, Political and Commercial, Indian Embassy in Italy told Bansal.
The heavy loss could have been easily avoided if the home bank had done its homework properly.
Bansal, who is also a Treasurer at Federation of Indian Micro and Small & Medium Enterprises (FISME), said that negligence is attributed to the bank as well as they are the ones who are supposed to verify and tally the address. In case they had done their job properly, the fraud could have been avoided easily.”
To make matters worse, when Bansal contacted the ICICI Bank in the national capital, they said, “We are just the collecting branch. We received the documents and sent to the address you gave.” Shedding away the onus of negligence completely, the Bank said, “If we receive the payment, we will give you, else we are not at fault.”
Now, the issue has raised concerns amongst MSME exporters who are already facing the brunt of falling exports and slow global demands. The entrepreneurs have urged the government to raise the issue with their Italian counterparts and call for strict action to check such frauds which mostly go unreported. (KNN Bureau)
New Delhi based merchant export company, TMA International got a purchase order worth Euro 99441.90 from Italian Companies named New Invest SRL and PUERTO Madero SPA. The term of payment was Cash payment against documents.
“Our export item reached Genoa, Italy Sea Port on October 19, 2015. As per the purchase order, the shipment was released by the port against receiving export original documents,” Director, TMA International, Pankaj Bansal told KNN.
Bansal pointed out that the original documents were sent by them through the ICICI Bank, New Friends Colony Branch.
As per the export policy, the bank to whom the original documents are submitted are supposed to send the documents to the concerned bank in the country where the goods are being exported.
In this case, the concerned bank in Italy was Unicredit Banca SPA and Monte Dei Paschi Di Siena . The home bank sent the original documents to the concerned banks by following all protocols.
“When we contacted our bank (ICICI Bank) for payment of consignment, the bank confirmed that the documents have been delivered,” Bansal said.
Later on, after the consignment was released by the Genoa, Italy sea port customs department post receiving the duly signed original documents, it was learnt that the Italian Bank Unicredit Bance SPA never received the original documents from the Indian Bank.
“What was more horrifying was that the documents were received by somebody in between who signed them and submitted them to customs,” said the horrified entrepreneur.
Bansal, who was co-incidentally in Italy at that time, tried to contact the company there and discovered that there were no such firms existing at the given address.
Now the bigger question was that if the company doesn’t exists at the given address, then how did the ICICI Bank, which is responsible for the delivery of all original documents to the given address after proper verification, misplace the documents or hand them over to the wrong person? Or how did the organization like ECGC verified the buyer?
Soon after finding out that the company was a fraud, Bansal immediately reported the case to the Italian Bank, only to find that they but they did not care to entertain his query much, and seemed disinterested even. In fact, the Unicredit Banca set aside the matter by saying that they had not received any document and they were not aware of any such matter.
Shocked by the whole series of event, Bansal reported the case to the Indian Embassy in Italy where he was told that this was the 30th such case being reported. They had no clue about the culprit even in the previous cases as well. But interestingly they noted that this is the third time that a similar case is being reported concerning the Unicredit Banca.
“The number of such fraudulent cases is increasing. There is definitely a racket going on where fake companies are created and place orders worth lakhs of rupees. After receiving the goods, the companies are no longer traced,” Madan Mohan Sethi, First Secretary, Political and Commercial, Indian Embassy in Italy told Bansal.
The heavy loss could have been easily avoided if the home bank had done its homework properly.
Bansal, who is also a Treasurer at Federation of Indian Micro and Small & Medium Enterprises (FISME), said that negligence is attributed to the bank as well as they are the ones who are supposed to verify and tally the address. In case they had done their job properly, the fraud could have been avoided easily.”
To make matters worse, when Bansal contacted the ICICI Bank in the national capital, they said, “We are just the collecting branch. We received the documents and sent to the address you gave.” Shedding away the onus of negligence completely, the Bank said, “If we receive the payment, we will give you, else we are not at fault.”
Now, the issue has raised concerns amongst MSME exporters who are already facing the brunt of falling exports and slow global demands. The entrepreneurs have urged the government to raise the issue with their Italian counterparts and call for strict action to check such frauds which mostly go unreported. (KNN Bureau)
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