Mumbai A special court in Mumbai has accepted the report of the Economic Offenses Wing (EOW) in which late Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar and his wife Sunetra Pawar were given a clean chit in the alleged loan disbursement scam of around Rs 25,000 crore in Maharashtra State Co-operative Bank (Shikhar Bank). Approving the closure report, the court has said that no punishable offense has been proved in the case. The special court has accepted the ‘C-Summary’ report of the late Deputy Chief Minister of the Economic Offenses Wing. This brought relief to all those political leaders including Ajit Pawar, whose name was involved in this scam. The court, while approving the closure report, said that no punishable offense has been proved in the case of the alleged Rs 25,000 crore scam.
Clean chit to more than 70 others
A special court in Mumbai accepted the closure report filed by the Economic Offenses Wing (EOW) in the Rs 25,000 crore Maharashtra State Cooperative Bank (MSCB) case, giving a clean chit to Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Sunetra Pawar, late Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar and over 70 others in the case.
no criminal offense is committed
The court also dismissed the protest petitions filed by activist Anna Hazare and others as well as the intervention petition filed by the Enforcement Directorate (ED). Special Judge Mahesh Jadhav accepted the C-summary report, which said no criminal offense was made out in the alleged loan and recovery irregularities involving the cooperative sugar factories. The order also endorsed the EOW’s finding that there was ‘no criminal offence’ in the transactions involving Ajit Pawar, Sunetra Pawar, their relatives and other entities.
Investigation of three major transactions
The case began in 2019 after the Bombay High Court ordered the registration of an FIR based on the allegations against MSCB and District Cooperative Banks. These banks issued interest-free loans to sugar factories so that loan accounts could be created in favor of bank officials and people associated with politicians. It was also alleged that the companies subsequently sold their unit properties at extremely low prices. The 35-page closure report of the EOW examined three major transactions and found no criminal irregularities in the sanctioning of loans or the sale of sugar factories, including the Jarandeshwar Sugar Cooperative Factory in Satara.
Recovery of more than Rs 343 crore
It was alleged that the factories were found unprofitable, then declared non-performing assets and sold at throwaway prices to companies linked to bank officials and relatives of politicians, including companies owned by the Pawar family. The EOW has now said that there has been no loss to the bank, and has also said that it has recovered over Rs 1,343 crore from the loans that came under the scanner.