New Delhi, March 29 -- The Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO) has, in a plea filed before the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) sought stringent action against former officials of the state-owned Industrial Finance Corporation of India (IFCI) and 91 others over a fraud of almost Rs.7,000 crore. The companies named include those engaged in businesses such as IT services, real estate, steel, auto components and hospitality and SFIO claims it found a systematic pattern of fraudulent sanction, appraisal and disbursement of loans. The companies, according to the agency, which comes under the ministry of corporate affairs, were financially distressed, ineligible or wilful defaulters . Among those named are three former CEOs of IFCI, Atul Kumar Rai, Santosh B Nayar and Malay Mukherjee, and the promoters of several companies. HT has reviewed a copy of the plea. A NCLT bench composed of acting president, Deep Chandra Joshi, and member, Ravindra Chaturvedi, admitted SFIO's petition earlier this month and issued notices to IFCI and 91 other respondents. It will hear the matter next on May 28. IFCI didn't respond to a query by HT. Atul Rai and Malay Mukherjee didn't respond to HT's calls. HT could not locate Santosh B Nayar. Advocate Vijay Aggarwal, who appears for several of the named companies and promoters/directors, refused to comment. SFIO has alleged that IFCI, instead of acting as a public financial guardian, "was transformed into an instrument for private enrichment and unlawful bailouts", with senior officers conning with companies. They deliberately structured loans to favour some, manipulated appraisal notes, removed financial indicators and inflated valuation reports to justify sanctions that had no commercial justification, thereby causing a loss of Rs.6,855 crore to IFCI, SFIO has claimed. The plea before NCLT was filed under sections 221, 222, 241 and 242 of the Companies Act on January 19. SFIO has sought to determine the personal liability of IFCI's senior executives and directors of the private companies, freeze their assets and realise the defrauded amount. The Supreme Court had, in September 2016, had directed the ministry to initiate a probe through SFIO into the affairs of IFCI. According to the SFIO petition, its probe, conducted over eight years, found losses worth thousands of crores arising from 21 transactions across sectors including real estate, infrastructure, steel, hospitality and financial instruments....