'Fraudulent And Malicious': ALX Dismisses Multi-Crore Fraud Charge, Files Counter Complaint

ALX Shipping Agencies (India) Pvt. has dismissed the fraud allegations levelled by one Vishal Mehta, and has instead filed a counter-complaint against him with the Economic Offences Wing of the Mumbai Police.

The complaint, filed on Friday, mentions Mehta, promoter of Rushabh Sealink and Logistics Pvt. and Sandeep Bakshi, former CEO of ALX. They have been accused by the company of "willful, fraudulent, and malicious acts amounting to criminal breach of trust, forgery, and conspiracy".

ALX, which is part of the Allcargo Group, has requested the Mumbai Police's EOW to conduct a "full investigation" into the alleged conspiracy.

"Preliminary internal investigations have revealed that unauthorised agreements were executed and post-dated cheques were issued without the knowledge or approval of ALX's Board of Directors and wrongfully exposing ALX to financial and reputational risk," ALX said in a statement.

The company, in relation to its findings, "has taken immediate action, including suspension of the Sandeep Bakshi", and has sought appropriate criminal proceedings and investigations by the authorities, the statement added.

"We would like to categorically state that allegation against us of diversion and delay of shipments are devoid of any base and is fabricated. ALX merely represents the line and has no operational control on ship movements," it further said.

The company claimed that the cargo has already set sail to its final port of destination in Djibouti and "was never hijacked by anyone as is fraudulently claimed by Vishal Mehta". The cargo remained in "control of Rushabh Sealink" and they did remove some containers from the terminal as the ship was delayed, it added.

The ALX statement comes in the backdrop of Mehta, on Wednesday, filing a complaint before the EOW of Mumbai Police, alleging a fraud of Rs 325 crore.