Legal Consultant in Rs400 Cr Fraud Case Granted Bail by Delhi High court
The Delhi High Court has granted bail to legal consultant Ajay Khera, who was arrested last year for defrauding leading freight forwarding company Seagull Maritime Agencies Private Limited. The Khera family, led by Ajay Khera, colluded to exploit his relationship with Seagull's former promoter to gain access to confidential information necessary to execute their fraudulent activities, resulting in a loss of over Rs 400 crore.
Khera, a former executive director of the state-owned Central Warehousing Corporation, had incorporated two companies and started funnelling away payments originally made in the name of Seagull.
"The Khera family's reprehensible actions are a clear example of how unscrupulous individuals can cause significant harm to a company's reputation and financial well-being," argued Seagull's counsel. Seagull's trust in Ajay Khera was misplaced, and the company is now paying a hefty price for it. It is appalling to learn that the Khera family established Azure, an Indian and US-based company, to further their illegal activities, which included stealing bills from Seagull's portal and invoicing them to their companies, defrauding Seagull of more than Rs 100 crore.
Seagull had taken swift action to bring the culprits to justice, with Delhi Police's EOW office arresting Ajay Khera in September 2022. However, his son Siddharth Khera, who transferred Rs 25 crore stolen from Seagull's accounts to his father and brother via hawala, is still wanted by Indian authorities. The involvement of Charu Khera, Shruti Arora, Hira Malhotra, and others in the scam, with one accused having fled to Canada, highlights the extent of the Khera family's criminal enterprise.
After voluntarily retiring from CWC, Khera joined World Window India Impex Private Limited as president. It was a group company of Seagull Maritime Agencies Private Limited, which deals in the freight forwarding business in India. It was alleged that the petitioner, who was previously an employee of a group company, had recommended his son for the position of business development manager at Seagull's USA branch. However, it was discovered that the petitioner (Ajay Khera) and his son had incorporated two companies, Azure Freight & Logistics LLP and Azure International LLC, which were taking away Seagull's clientele by misrepresentation and forgery. Resultantly, the annual revenue of Seagull dropped drastically from 2018 to its lowest in 2021.
During the investigation, it was revealed that Siddharth Khera, accused's son, was the Director of Azure International LLC and had been employed by Seagull until 30th June 2021. The prosecution further alleged that former and present employees of the accused Azure were also actively involved in the conspiracy, using Seagull's IDs even after their resignation from the company.
In the charge-sheet, the names of accused persons, namely Siddharth Khera, Charu Khera, Aadhar Khera, and Shruti Arora, and others who were allegedly employees and were clandestinely working for Azure, have been filed.
"It is an affront to justice that Ajay Khera was granted bail by Delhi High Court on 20th April 2023, after seven months in jail. The severity of the fraud scheme, its impact on Seagull, and the involvement of other individuals should have warranted a more stringent punishment. This is a clear indication of the flaws in the Indian justice system, which allow individuals like Ajay Khera to walk free while their victims suffer," said a Seagull spokesperson.
