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ED gets custody of Wadhawans till Oct 22
Mumbai The special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court on Friday remanded Rakesh Kumar Wadhawan and his son Sarang, among the key accused in the ₹4,355-crore
Mumbai The special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court on Friday remanded Rakesh Kumar Wadhawan and his son Sarang, among the key accused in the ₹4,355-crore fraud at Punjab and Maharashtra Co-operative (PMC) Bank, in the Enforcement Directorate’s (ED) custody till October 22.
The two were produced before court on Friday afternoon after the ED sought their custody for seven days.
The ED’s counsel, advocate Kavita Patil argued that the Wadhawans have been charged with criminal conspiracy and cheating by the economic offence’s wing (EOW), which has found that the Wadhawans availed loans illegally from PMC Bank in connivance with bank officials. It was submitted that ₹4,355 crore were disbursed as loans through numerous dormant and fictitious accounts.
“We need to find a money trail of the loan amount and that’s why the ED needs their custody for questioning,” Patil told the court.
Advocate Amit Desai, appearing for the Wadhwans said the Wadhawans have offered the fraud-hit PMC Bank a solution by way of selling the Wadhawans’ assets to repay the loan. So far, the investigation has led to the seizure of assets whose estimated value is more than ₹4,000 crore.
“We have given several securities and also given a list of assets supported by the report of a valuator. Before the Wadhwans and the bank could work out a solution, the case was registered. Now the assets are also attached,” said Desai.
The court rejected Desai’s argument that a proper case has not been made against the Wadhawans and granted the ED custody of the accused till October 22.
