MSCB 'scam': ED chargesheet names NCP (SP) MLA Rohit Pawar as accused

Mumbai: The Enforcement Directorate named NCP (SP) MLA Rohit Pawar as an accused in a chargesheet submitted recently in the alleged Maharashtra State Cooperative Bank (MSCB) scam.

The chargesheet was moved before a special MPs MLA court here, though details of it were not immediately available.

The MSCB money laundering case stems from an August 2019 FIR of the Mumbai Police Economic Offences Wing (EOW) alleging fraudulent sale of SSKs (Sahakari Sakhar Kharkhana) by then officers and directors of MSCB at throwaway prices to their relatives/private persons without following due procedure.

Pawar, MLA of the Sharad Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party (SP) from Karjat-Jamkhed assembly seat in Ahilyanagar district, was questioned by the ED twice in the past in connection with the case.

The agency has alleged MSCB, in order to recover an outstanding loan of Rs 80.56 crore of Kannad SSK Limited, took possession of all its assets on July 13, 2009 under the Securitisation and Reconstruction of Financial Assets and Enforcement of Security Interest (SARFAESI) Act.

The MSCB then conducted an auction on August 30, 2012 of Kannad SSK by fixing a "very low" reserve price based on a questionable valuation report, the ED alleged.

"Apart from Baramati Agro Limited, two other parties entered the bidding process. The bidder with the highest bid was technically disqualified on flimsy grounds, whereas the other bidder was already a close business associate of Baramati Agro Ltd with no financial capacity or experience of running a sugar unit," it said.

The Kannad SSK is "owned" by Baramati Agro Ltd, which is a company of Rohit Pawar.