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‘Ex-PMC Bank MD loaned ₹13cr to HDIL promoters without records’
Former managing director of Punjab Maharashtra Co-operative (PMC) Bank, Joy Thomas, allegedly loaned around ₹13 crore to the promoters of Housing Development and
Former managing director of Punjab Maharashtra Co-operative (PMC) Bank, Joy Thomas, allegedly loaned around ₹13 crore to the promoters of Housing Development and Infrastructure (HDIL), Rakesh Kumar and Sarang Wadhawan, without maintaining any official records. Thomas is one of the key accused in the fraud case at PMC Bank, which is being investigated by Mumbai Police’s economic offences wing (EOW).
“Whenever the Wadhawans would require huge cash, they would approach the bank and give cheques. Thomas would allow the Wadhawans to take cash without even processing the cheques. This is how around ₹13 crore in cash was availed to the Wadhawans on different instances. Thomas never processed the 22 cheques Wadhawans had given the bank [as repayment]. Later, the Wadhawans returned ₹3 crore, but rest [₹10 crore] remained unpaid. This has surfaced in the recent investigations,” said an EOW officer on condition of anonymity.
Thomas was arrested on October 4 and is in judicial custody. In a letter to the Reserve Bank of India, which took over administrative control of PMC Bank in September, Thomas had said he favoured HDIL because he didn’t want to lose the bank’s biggest borrower. PMC Bank’s loan exposure to HDIL has been pegged at more than 70%. Investigators also suspect that one of the arrested directors of PMC Bank, Surjit Singh Arora, received kickbacks worth around ₹25 lakh from HDIL. “There is a conflict of interest as Arora held the position of director in the bank and he was providing catering service to the bank’s biggest borrower,” said another EOW officer.
However, Arora’s lawyer has denied this allegation. Arora was the first of the bank’s directors to be arrested and is also in judicial custody.
Meanwhile, ex-directors Jagdish Mookhey and Trupti Bane, who were arrested on Tuesday, were produced in court on Wednesday. They have been remanded in police custody till December 11. Ex-director Mukti Bavisi, who was also arrested on Tuesday, could not be produced in court as she had to be hospitalised.
