Did Singh make HDIL’s proposals, get them approved by PMC Bank?

In its probe of the ₹4,355-crore fraud case at Punjab and Maharashtra Co-operative (PMC) Bank, the economic offences wing (EOW) of Mumbai Police has found that the

In its probe of the ₹4,355-crore fraud case at Punjab and Maharashtra Co-operative (PMC) Bank, the economic offences wing (EOW) of Mumbai Police has found that the bank’s ex-chairperson Waryam Singh played a “double role”. Officials from the EOW’s special investigation team (SIT) said that not only was Singh the chairperson of PMC Bank in the period when the fraud was carried out, he had worked for HDIL in the past. Singh had worked with two other accused, Rakesh Kumar and Sarang Wadhawan – both are directors of HDIL – in land development projects in Palghar. HDIL has many real estate projects in Palghar and Vasai, all of which have now been stalled.

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“Singh played a ‘double role’ in the fraud. We are trying to establish his links in preparing proposal and getting it sanctioned from the bank by himself,” said an officer, adding that the EOW suspects HDIL may have got the leeway that it did because of Singh’s connection with the Wadhawans. PMC Bank’s exposure to the bankrupt HDIL is over ₹6,500 crore — four times the regulatory cap, or 73% of its entire assets of ₹8,880 crore.

Singh and his family also made significant business investments in United States of America during the time that the alleged fraud was underway in Indian. Officials said they’re verifying if PMC Bank’s money is involved in these suspicious investments. Another EOW officer said that the investigation has uncovered that the accounts opened by the accused with PMC Bank were not loan accounts, but were current accounts used for their overdraft facilities. The probe has also found that the Wadhawans diverted ₹90 crore loaned to them by PMC Bank to clear their outstanding dues with Bank of India.

On Wednesday, the investigating officer told the court that interrogation of Singh and the Wadhawans had led the police to discover the falsification of many documents.