Orissa High Court upholds conviction of Congress MLA Mohammed Moquim in loan fraud case

The Orissa High Court on Wednesday (April 10) upheld the 2002 conviction of Congress Member of Legislative Assembly (MLA) Mohammed Moquim in a loan fraud case [Mohammed Moquim vs State of Odisha (Vigilance)]..Moquim had been convicted by a special court (Vigilance) in 2002 for being involved in fraudulently securing a loan of over ₹1 crore twice from the Orissa Rural Housing Development Corporation (ORHDC). .The Bhubaneswar trial court had convicted Moquim for the offences of forgery, fraud and criminal conspiracy. The trial court also sentenced the Congress leader to three years in jail, as a result of which he was disqualified from being an MLA..On April 10, Justice BP Routray of the Orissa High Court upheld this judgment. .The High Court found that there was sufficient evidence against Moquim to indicate that he played an active role in getting the irregular loans sanctioned in favour of a company, M/s. Metro Builders Pvt. Ltd., in which he was the Managing Director (MD)."The same coupled with the irregularities committed while sanctioning the loan, the criminal intent of the appellant (Moquim) is established having direct nexus with the offences committed ... The Appellant along with other co-accused persons have intentionally and knowingly used series of forged documents, to get the loan sanctioned in favour of accused company without any justification," the Court said..The Court added that while a mere inability to repay a loan would not give rise to criminal prosecution, there was fraudulent and dishonest intention on the part of the accused in this case. "Here in the present case, fraudulent and dishonest intention of the Appellant as the MD of the accused company has been established through prosecution evidence to show his intention to get the loan sanctioned and such conduct of the Appellant from the very date of application for loan is clear on record to satisfy the existence of mens rea on his part," the Court observed..The case concerns loans obtained by M/s. Metro Builders Pvt. Ltd., in which company Moquim was the MD.Moquim, along with the company (Metro Builders Pvt. Ltd.), its company secretary, a director and the Chief of ORHDC were accused of being complicit in the irregular sanction of two loans from the ORHDC.The first loan of about ₹1.5 crores was said to have been illegally sanctioned in 2000 through an abuse of powers, without the authority of the ORHDC Board and without keeping adequate security, thereby causing wrongful financial loss to ORHDC. It was alleged that documents were forged and several rules were violated to get this loan.Further, Moquim, being the MD of Metro Builders, was allegedly granted authorisation to secure such a loan by the company only three days after the loan was sanctioned. This meant that he did not have any such authority to secure the loan on behalf of Metro Builders when the loan was actually extended. .Metro Builders Pvt. Ltd. later managed to secure a further loan of ₹1.5 crores without paying the previous loan amount. The new loan was allegedly taken in the guise of needing funds for a new project - Metro City II - in conspiracy with other accused persons, who were the officials of the ORHDC.Out of said loan amount of ₹ 1.5 crore, ₹50 lakhs was adjusted towards repayment of the previous loan. Further, this loan was disbursed without execution of any registered mortgage deed or tripartite agreement, the Court was told..In view of these allegations, Moquim and the others co-accused were booked on charges of having committed the offences under Sections 468 (forgery for cheating), 471 (using a forged document as genuine), 420 (cheating) and Section 120-B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code. .The High Court, in its April 10 judgment, has held that the prosecution had successfully proved these charges against Moquim."The findings of the learned trial court and the conviction are thus confirmed. Keeping in view the extent of sentence and the nature of offences as well as the role played by the Appellant in committing the offences, no reason is found to interfere with the sentencing," Justice Routray held..The Court therefore dismissed Moquim's appeal and confirmed his conviction and three year jail sentence..Senior Advocate Pitambar Acharya appeared for Moquim.Senior Standing Counsel (Vigilance) S Das along with Standing Counsel (Vigilance) K Das represented the State..[Read Judgment]