ED now books Sharad Pawar, Ajit Pawar in Rs 25000 cr MSCB scam

Agencies
September 25, 2019

Mumbai, Sept 25: Triggering a political earthquake ahead of the October 21 Assembly elections in Maharashtra, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) has registered a money laundering case against Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) President Sharad Pawar, his nephew Ajit Pawar, and several other politicians and officials in the Maharashtra State Cooperative Bank (MSCB) scam worth around Rs 25,000 crore, officials said here on Tuesday.

It may be recalled that on August 22, IANS was the first and only news media to report that Sharad Pawar could face charges in the MSCB imbroglio which exploded after the Bombay High Court judgement last month.

The ED's move against the political bigwigs came after the Bombay HC ordered the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the Mumbai Police to probe and file cases against the Pawars and others in the matter, setting the politicians scurrying.

Following the EOW's FIR in late August, the ED filed its case on Tuesday.

Mumbai-based activist Surinder M. Arora had approached the Bombay HC, demanding an investigation into the MSCB scam.

Earlier this month, Ajit Pawar and others had moved the Supreme Court to quash the proceedings in the matter, but Justices Arun Mishra and M.R. Shah had declined the plea and instead asked the Mumbai Police to conduct a free and fair probe.

The ED said there were several irregularities in loans provided to the cooperative sugar factories (CSFs) by the MSCB officials who were allegedly connected to the owners of the factories.

The loans were sanctioned to the factories despite weak financials, negative net worth, collaterals not taken in many cases and additional facilities extended without any justification.

This and other factors resulted in many of the cooperative sugar factories falling sick while many were sold at lower than the reserve price for the benefit of the buyers who were personally or politically connected with the MSCB directors whose consent was not taken before the sales.

Besides, the ED said many transactions involved forged sales documents and many sales were effected without inviting tenders, thus flouting rules of the NABARD, RBI and SARFAESI.

"There was huge misappropriation of funds on the part of committee members, directors and loan committee members of MSCB, acting in connivance to siphon off the money and causing huge losses to the bank," said the ED.

Setting the ball rolling last month, a division bench of Bombay HC comprising Justices S.C. Dharmadhikari and S.K. Shinde had ruled that there was prima facie credible evidence and directed the EOW to initiate proceedings invoking the relevant provisions of the law.

The Pawars and other prominent politicians, named in a public interest litigation filed by Arora, were accused of causing losses worth around Rs 25,000 crore to the MSCB between 2007 and 2011.

Earlier, a quasi-judicial probe panel under the Maharashtra Cooperative Societies Act had blamed Pawars and the others accused in the matter.

The National Bank for Agriculture & Rural Development (NABARD) had also inspected and audited the MSCB, revealing flouting of various banking and Reserve Bank of India (RBI) rules while distributing loans to sugar factories and spinning mills, and the subsequent defaults on repayments and recoveries of the dues.

Despite the probe reports and complaints lodged by Arora, no action or FIR was filed in the matter after which he filed a PIL in the high court in 2015.

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News Network
January 17,2020

New Delhi, Jan 17: Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia does not have any car on his name, according to information shared in the poll affidavit filed by him for Delhi elections.

In the affidavit, it is also shown that while his self-acquired immovable property remained roughly the same as in 2015. His wife's self-acquired immovable property is worth roughly about Rs 65 lakh, as per his latest affidavit.

In the papers submitted during the nomination for 2015 Delhi polls, the senior AAP leader had declared that he owned a Maruti Swift car of make 2013.

However, in his 2020 affidavit, he has mentioned "nil" in the column for motor vehicles and other means of transport.

In the affidavit submitted on Thursday, his moveable assets were declared worth Rs 4,74,888 for 2018-19, as against Rs 4,92,624 for 2013-14.

In 2015, Sisodia had informed in his affidavit that he had bought a property in Vasundhara, Ghaziabad, worth Rs 5.07 lakh in April 2001. The approximate current market value of self-acquired property in 2015 was Rs 12 lakh.

In his current affidavit, the AAP leader has mentioned the same property. However, the approximate current market value of self-acquired property in 2020 has increased to Rs 21 lakh.

In his affidavit for the 2015 polls, Sisodia had also said that his wife had purchased a property in March 2008 costing Rs 8.70 lakh. At that time, the approximate value of her self-acquired property was Rs 20 lakh.

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News Network
March 27,2020

Mumbai, Mar 27: Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Shaktikanta Das on Friday said that Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) has taken note of the global economic activity coming to a near standstill due to the coronavirus pandemic and added that large parts of the world could slip into recession in the coming days to the coronavirus crisis.
"The MPC noted that global economic activity has come to a near stand-still as COVID-19 related lockdowns and social distancing are imposed across a widening swath of affected countries. Expectations of a shallow recovery in 2020, from 2019's decade low in global growth, have been dashed," Das said.
"The outlook is now heavily contingent upon the intensity, spread and duration of the pandemic. There is a rising probability that large parts of the world will slip into recession," he added.
The RBI Governor further added that "the implied GDP growth of 4.7 per cent in Quarter 4 of 2019-20, in the second advance estimates of the National Statistics Office which was released in February 2020, within the annual estimate of 5 per cent for the year as a whole is now at risk."
As per the outlook for the year 2020-21, Das said, "Apart from continuing resilience of agriculture and allied activities most other sectors of the economy will be adversely impacted by the pandemic depending upon, its intensity, spread and duration."
Das also announced a reduction in the repo and reverse repo rates for banks.
"The repo rate has been reduced by 75 basis points to 4.4 per cent. The reserve repo rate has been reduced by 90 basis points to 4 per cent," Das said addressing the media.
The decision for "a sizeable reduction" in the policy repo rate, according to the RBI Governor was taken to "revive growth and mitigate the impact of COVID-19 and ensure financial stability." 

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News Network
July 4,2020

Pune, Jul 4: Now that wearing mask in public places has become the new normal, a resident of Pimpri-Chinchwad of Pune district, Shankar Kurade has got himself a mask made of gold worth Rs 2.89 lakhs amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

"It's a thin mask with minute holes so that there is no difficulty in breathing. I am not sure whether this mask will be effective," said Kurade.

Kurade loves wearing gold ornaments and his hands and neck are loaded with jewellery.

This unique idea struck him soon after he saw a man wearing a silver mask on social media.

"I saw a video on social media of a man in Kolhapur wearing a silver mask and then an idea struck me to have a mask of gold. I talked to a goldsmith and he gave me this five and a half pound gold mask in a week," said Kurade.

"All my family members love gold, if they too demand it, then I will get it designed for them too. I do not know if I will be infected with coronavirus wearing a gold mask or not, but following all the rules of the government can prevent the spread of virus," he added.

Since childhood, Shankar is very fond of gold ornaments, that is the reason he wears gold rings in all the fingers, gold bracelets on his wrist and huge gold chains around his neck.

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