Rohit Pawar alleges ED action against him illegal, politically motivated

Rohit Pawar claimed that there were many factual errors in the statement issued by the Enforcement Directorate and said that he would prove the truth in the court of law

Nationalist Congress Party (Sharad Pawar faction) MLA Rohit Pawar on Saturday alleged that the Enforcement Directorate (ED)’s action to attach the assets of the Kannad Sugar Unit owned by his company Baramati Agro Ltd. was politically motivated and illegal and said that there were many factual errors in the statement issued by ED. He also assured farmers and all stakeholders of the factory not to worry and that he would prove the truth in the court of law.

Nationalist Congress Party (Sharad Pawar faction) MLA Rohit Pawar. (File)

“The statement issued by ED states that the case is based on an FIR registered by the Economic Offences Wing, Mumbai Police (EOW), wherein it is alleged that the SSKs were fraudulently sold by the then officials and directors of the Maharashtra State Co-operative Bank (MSCB) at ‘throwaway prices’ to their relatives/private persons without following the due procedure. However, the Economic Offences Wing had not named Baramati Agro Ltd. in its submission. More importantly, in 2012 when Baramati Agro Ltd. acquired the Kannad SSK, the MSCB Bank was being run by a board of administrators appointed on the recommendation of the Reserve Bank of India, and not by the then officials and directors of MSCB. So, there is no question of there being any relation of officials/directors with any stakeholder of M/s Baramati Agro Ltd. as alleged by ED,” said Pawar in his statement.

He also said that his company was not part of the first auction process of the Kannad sugar factory, which failed, but participated in the second auction process. He pointed out the excerpts from the closure report of the EOW. “During investigation it is found that the process of sanctioning loans by MSC Bank and sale of sugar mills are carried out in tune with legal provisions and MSC Bank has not caused financial loss from the same or directors of the bank, officials of bank etc. have not benefited from the same. It is also found that the events of violations of guidelines of NABARD, RBI or other regularities do not amount to criminal acts,” states the report.

“Therefore, the press note of the ED in its attempt to substantiate the illegal provisional attachment order relies upon factually incorrect allegations. This seems to be politically motivated action and we reserve our lawful rights to take legal action against this mala fide step by the ED,” said Pawar.

Rohit is the grandson of Appasaheb, brother of NCP founder Sharad Pawar. Elected MLA from Karjat-Jamkhed constituency in Ahmednagar district, Rohit stood by senior Pawar when Ajit Pawar split the party to join the Shiv Sena-BJP government in the state. He is now a key leader of the Sharad Pawar-led NCP.