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Sementic absconds with Rs 16 crore?

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CIOL Bureau
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NEW DELHI, INDIA: Sementic Technologies, a Delhi-based channel partner for Dell, HP and IBM, has allegedly absconded with Rs 16 crore from vendors, distributors, channel partners and bankers, according to Delhi-based channel association PCAIT.

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With its office in the Bali Nagar area, the company was into the IT business for more than a decade. Owned and managed by HC Chawla, who PCAIT sources say is a former HCL Infosystems employee, Sementic allegedly owes over Rs 16 crore to its creditors, and has closed down its office after Holi.

Has Chawla fled the country?

Chawla reportedly sold his house, and couldn't be contacted over the phone. It is also learnt that the premise has been sealed by the bankers; and Chawla and his father may have fled the country.

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PCAIT, through its newly constituted Disputes Settlement Panel, has already issued a circular to members, urging them to bring up any cases of default linked to Sementic, so that it can collectively take up the issue with the Economic Offences Wing (EOW).

Speaking to CIOL, PCAIT secretary Saket Kapur said: "It seems that the company had a malafide intent. We will take up the matter with EOW if more partners come to us, so that we can substantiate the fraud."

According to Kapur, Sementic adopted the tactic of selling IT products cheaper than other dealers. The company was also reportedly enjoying overdraft facilities from the State Bank of India and Allahabad Bank.

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Sementic owes Rs 2 crore each to Iris Computers and also, reportedly, to Dell; as well as Rs 10 lakh to Nehru Place-based Elcom Trading Company. Confirming this over phone, Sanjiv Krishen, chairman of Iris Computers, said that Sementic had defaulted to the tune of Rs 2 crore.

To a query, Somesh Narang of Elcom Trading Company said that Chawla took Lenovo laptops from them for a credit of Rs 10 lakh. "Sementic was one of our old customers, so we did not anticipate that something like this could happen. Two cheques of Rs 5 lakh each bounced; and we are considering a forgery case against the company," said Narang.

Redington and Ingram Micro, who were dealing with the company, have also lost some money, but the exact figures are yet to be known. Sementic was a sub-distributor with a strong focus on the education sector. It had recently bagged a large contract of Dell laptops from an institute in Greater Noida. The total loss to the channel community is yet to be ascertained.

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