ED seeks custody of HDIL’S Wadhawans in PMC bank probe

MUMBAI: The Enforcement Directorate on Wednesday sought custody of HDIL promoters Rakesh Wadhawan and his son Sarang in connection with the Rs 4,355 crore Punjab & Maharashtra Cooperative (PMC) Bank scam.

Real estate firm Housing Development Infrastructure Ltd's (HDIL) chairman and managing director Rakesh Wadhawan and his son were first arrested by the Economic Offences Wing of Mumbai Police in connection with the case.

The EOW alleged that the bank management, in cahoots with the Wadhawans, concealed from the banking regulators' scrutiny huge loan defaults by the HDIL group firms.

The bank officials replaced 44 loan accounts of HDIL with 21,049 fictitious accounts to camouflage huge loan defaults by the real estate group, it said.

The Wadhawan duo, along with another accused, the bank's former chairman Waryam Singh, were produced before Metropolitan Magistrate S G Shaikh as their custody ended on Wednesday. The court remanded them in judicial custody till October 23.

Besides these three, the EOW has also arrested the bank's former managing director Joy Thomas, whose police custody will expire on October 17.

Meanwhile, the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of Mumbai Police on Wednesday arrested Surjit Singh Arora, one of the former directors of the scamhit Punjab & Maharashtra Cooperative Bank.

This is the fifth arrest in the case. Arora was summoned for questioning by the EOW'S special investigation team earlier in the day.

He was a director of the PMC Bank and was also on its loan committee, said an EOW official.

bank is in the process of recasting its balance sheet to present a "true and fair picture". HDIL allegedly accounted for 70 per cent of the bank's Rs 9,000 crore advances. According to the Mumbai Police's Economic Offences Wing, HDIL'S loans turned non-performing assets, but the bank management allegedly hid this from the RBI'S scrutiny.

Amid instances of deaths and also a suicide, of depositors, troubled PMC Bank's administrator met RBI brass including Governor Shaktikanta Das on Wednesday.

“It was assured that the bank will make all efforts to safeguard the interests of depositors and other stakeholders,” the statement from J B Bhoria, who was placed as the administrator last month by RBI, said. It also informed that the bank is in the process of recasting its balance sheet to present a “true and fair picture”, according to the press release from Punjab and Maharashtra Cooperative (PMC) Bank's administrator Bhoria.