On ED radar, Pawar says will ‘voluntarily visit’ agency office
MUMBAI: Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar said on Wednesday that he would voluntarily visit the Enforcement Directorate (ED) office on September 27 in connection with the probe launched against him by the agency for alleged loan fraud to the extent of Rs 25,000 crore involving Maharashtra State Cooperative Bank (MSCB).
Pawar questioned the ED move which comes weeks before the Maharashtra Assembly elections on October 21, but said he would visit ED’s office at 2 pm on September 27 to submit “whatever information” was sought in connection with the Maharashtra State Co-operative Bank scam.
Pawar said he had not received any notice from the ED yet, but had come across the press statement the agency issued.
“Now that such a decision has been taken, it is my duty to cooperate with them. And therefore, I have decided to go there on my own,” Pawar said. “Maharashtra follows the ideology of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj. We don’t know bowing down before the Delhi takht (throne),” he added.
Apart from Pawar, his nephew Ajit Pawar and many directors of the bank are being investigated.
The allegation is that the bank provided loans, flouting procedure, to the directors or people linked to them; sold sugar factories of some borrowers to people with links to the directors at prices well below their market value; and that some of the buyers in the second instance, had political links with the Pawars.
Pawar said he would be campaigning for the elections, and his absence should not be seen as efforts to avoid ED.
Meanwhile, NCP youth wing protesters, led by state unit chief Mehboob Shaikh, shouted slogans against the BJP and the state government outside ED’s office. Shaikh also claimed that the protesters were batoncharged and later detained by the police.
Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis has refuted allegations that the ED’s probe is politically motivated.
“The government has nothing to do with the case. The Bombay high court had directed registering the FIR against the accused directors of the MSCB in the alleged corruption charges,” he said.