E-Paper
Maharashtra bank fraud: ₹65.75-cr assets linked to Ajit Pawar attached
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Thursday said that it has attached properties worth ₹65
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Thursday said that it has attached properties worth ₹65.75 crore (as per the purchase price in 2010) belonging to Jarandeshwar Sahkari Sakhar Karkhana (SSK), situated at Chimangaon in Satara district, in connection with the Maharashtra State Co-operative (MSC) Bank money laundering probe. These assets are said to be leased to a company related to deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar and his wife Sunetra.
Despite repeated attempts, Pawar did not respond to HT’s calls and messages.
The assets have been attached under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002, and are currently in the name of Guru Commodity Services Pvt Ltd and leased to Jarandeshwar Sugar Mills Pvt. Ltd. A majority of shares of the sugar mills is held by Sparkling Soil Pvt Ltd, linked to Pawar and Sunetra.
ED’s money laundering case is based on the August 2019 FIR (first information report) of Mumbai Police’s Economic Offence Wing (EOW), which had registered a cheating, forgery and corruption case after Bombay high court’s (HC) direction. As per the allegations in the FIR, the then officials and directors of MSC Bank had fraudulently sold the cooperative sugar mills at throwaway prices to their relatives/private persons without following the due procedure prescribed under SARFAESI (Securitisation and Reconstruction of Financial Assets and Enforcement of Security Interest) Act.
However, EOW later closed the case claiming it to be a civil matter. Then the complainant in the case filed a petition in HC, alleging that the closure report filed by EOW, giving a clean chit to Pawar – the then finance minister – and 75 directors of district banks was questionable, as it was based on the statement of an accused, Ajit Deshmukh.
ED’s investigation revealed that MSC Bank conducted an auction of Jarandeshwar SSK in 2010 at an undervalued price, without following due procedure. Pawar was one of the influential members on the bank’s board of directors at the time.
SSK was purchased by Guru Commodity Services Pvt Ltd (a dummy company) and was leased to Jarandeshwar Sugar Mills Pvt Ltd, which is now operating Jarandeshwar SSK. “A major part of the funds utilised to purchase the said cooperative [Jarandeshwar SSK] was received from Jarandeshwar Sugar Mills Pvt Ltd, which received the same from Sparkling Soil Pvt Ltd, a company related to Pawar and his wife,” ED stated in a statement.
ED agency further said that Guru Commodity Services Pvt Ltd was used to acquire SSK. The sugar mill was actually controlled and run by Jarandeshwar Sugar Mills Pvt Ltd. According to ED, the cooperative sugar mill has been used as a vehicle by Jarandeshwar Sugar Mills for obtaining loans to the tune of ₹700 crore from Pune District Central Co-operative Bank and others. Thus, Guru Commodity Services Pvt Ltd’s assets, being proceeds of crime, have been provisionally attached, ED said.
