A SWISS bank has secured a temporary High Court injunction freezing more than €1 million held in a Dublin bank account in an attempt to recover part of a €4 million loan it made to a company controlled by an Indian businessman.
Zurich-based Falcon Private Banks sought the orders freezing the account after it discovered shares in a company it received as security for a €4 million loan were valued at a fraction of what it had been informed they were worth.
The loan was advanced to a UK-registered company controlled by Indian businessman Naveen Aggarwal, a US citizen.
The bank is seeking to have the loan repaid. Yesterday, Ms Justice Elizabeth Dunne granted Falcon an interim injunction preventing Mr Aggarwal, and London-based firm SA Capital Ltd, from reducing the value of an account held in the name of the company at AIB in Dame Street, Dublin, below €1.1 million.
James Phillips, for Falcon, told the court that, in late July, the bank agreed to loan €4 million as part of a capital investment in RMU Kamengrad, which is listed on the Sarajevo Stock Exchange.
The company, counsel said, is part of a group of firms controlled by Mr Aggarwal and his family.
An initial amount of just over €1 million was deposited into the SA Capital account in Dublin. As security for the loan, it was agreed that €40 million worth of shares in another company controlled by Mr Aggarwal and his family – SA Capital Investments, of Belgrade – would be delivered to the bank.
Counsel said Falcon later found the shares in the Belgrade firm were worth “7,300 per cent less” than the value placed on them.
Counsel said Mr Aggarwal had indicated the money would be repaid. Counsel said Falcon was concerned after learning agents of the defendants had recently attempted to make a withdrawal from the Dame Street account.
Ms Justice Dunne made the matter returnable before next week’s sitting of the High Court.
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