HC grants bail to prime accused in Seva Vikas Bank loan fraud

Bombay HC grants bail to Sagar Suryawanshi, accused in ₹429.57 crore loan fraud at Seva Vikas Co-op Bank, Pune, as money trail does not lead to him.

MUMBAI: The Bombay high court (HC) last week granted bail to Sagar Suryawanshi, one of the prime accused in the ₹429.57 crore loan fraud at Seva Vikas Co-operative Bank, Pune. Though the Enforcement Directorate (ED) accused him of siphoning ₹60.67 crore through dubious loans, the court noted that the money trail did not lead to him.

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“Prima facie, apart from the credit of a sum of ₹10 lakh to the account of the applicant (Suryawanshi), the money trail does not lead to him,” said justice NJ Jamadar while granting bail to the Pune resident. “Thus, the accusation that the applicant was instrumental in the generation, acquisition, layering, placement and use of the proceeds of crime to the tune of ₹60.67 crore, prima facie, appears tenuous,” the court added.

ED had arrested Suryawanshi in the money laundering probe based on an FIR registered by the Vimantal police in Pune on May 17, 2018, following a complaint lodged by a shareholder of the co-operative bank about alleged malpractices involved in the operation of the bank.

The cooperatives department then conducted a test audit of loans exceeding ₹50 lakh. The audit report revealed misappropriation to the tune of ₹429.57 crore, involving 124 loan accounts (NPAs), which constituted 92% of the loans extended by the bank.

Three more FIRs were registered based on the test audit report. Suryawanshi was named in one of the FIRs, alleging that in connivance with then bank chairman Amar Mulchandani, he allegedly borrowed huge amounts, diverted the amounts to other purposes, including ever-greening of the loans and thereby generated, acquired, layered and integrated the proceeds of crime to the tune of ₹60,67 crore.

The high court, however, noticed that only one loan – a car loan to the tune of ₹1.46 crore was obtained by Suryawanshi, apart from the amount of ₹10 lakh that he had received from a firm owned by his wife, Sheetal Tejwani.

The court noted that a majority of the ₹60.67 crore was extended as loans to M/s. Renuka Lawns and M/s. Paramount Infrastructure, owned by Suryawanshi’s wife Sheetal Tejwani. These firms, according to ED, were involved in the acquisition, possession and use of proceeds of crime to the tune of ₹42.78 crores and ₹3.74 crores, respectively.

The court also noticed that though named as an accused in the money laundering case, Tejwani was not arrested by the agency and was granted formal bail when she appeared before the court after ED filed the prosecution complaint in the case.

“Deprivation of personal liberty cannot be a matter of chance (from the point of view of the accused) or choice (from the point of view of the investigator),” justice Jamadar said, commenting upon the “pick and choose” approach of the agency.

The court has ordered Suryawanshi to be released on bail on furnishing a personal bond of ₹1 lakh and one or two sureties in the same amount. The court has also asked him to surrender his passport and restrained him from leaving India without prior permission of the special PMLA court.