Kamal Ghorui
MUMBAI: Maharashtra’s first woman deputy CM Sunetra Pawar continues to face legal scrutiny in the Rs 25,000 crore Maharashtra State Co-operative Bank (MSCB) scam, where ED had, in its charge sheet, mentioned her along with Ajit Pawar. The Economic Offences Wing of Mumbai Police granted the couple a clean chit, but ED objected to the closure in its money laundering case and the matter is pending in court.Sunetra and Ajit were also investigated under Benami Properties law by income tax department, where the agency attached properties worth Rs 1,000 crore. But the couple got relief from the adjudication authority and then appellate tribunal, which ruled that the couple could not be treated as beneficial owners in the absence of proof that the consideration for the property was paid by them.
The MSCB case remained one of the politically sensitive cases in state as it involved multiple politicians from the governing side as well as opposition. The scam pertained to 31 district central co-operative banks under the MSCB umbrella, mostly named after districts and headed by senior politicians, which granted loans to cooperative sugar factories after violating rules. The charge is that it caused Rs 25,000 crore loss to MSCB as these sugar mills had defaulted on payments between 2002 and 2017. MSCB later auctioned the sugar factories along with their lands at throwaway prices, mostly to relatives of those heading the bank, in the guise of recovering loans. A PIL was filed in Bombay HC and, following its direction, an FIR was registered to begin an investigation in 2019. Based on this, ED registered the money laundering case. Later, Ajit, then leader of opposition, along with his NCP group joined Mahayuti govt of BJP and Shinde Sena.Sunetra’s name came under ED scrutiny in connection with purchase of Jarandeshwar Sugar Co-operative Mill while Ajit was associated with MSCB. ED stated the mill was sold by MSCB in a 2010 auction to Guru Commodity Pvt Ltd, associated with a Mumbai-based builder, for Rs 65.7 crore. Immediately, Guru Commodity gave the mill to a newly-incorporated private company, Jarandeshwar Sugar, on lease for an annual charge of Rs 12 lakh. ED said, “Director of Jarandeshwar Sugar Mills Ltd, Rajendra Ghadge, is maternal uncle of Ajit, who was then a director of the bank. The funds utilised for purchase of the mill in the auction were mainly sourced from Jarandeshwar Sugar, which in turn received Rs 20 crore from Jay Agrotech Pvt Ltd, a company in which Sunetra was a director.”Activist Anjali Damania, who has challenged the I-T findings, said, “Last year, I wrote to I-T for reopening the case against Pawars as SC had recalled its order in Ganpati Dealcom case that Benami Transaction (Prohibition) Amendment Act, 2016 can be applied retrospectively, based on which they got relief. I requested I-T authorities to attach the Pawars’ and Bhujbals’ properties again under the Act which were released earlier based on the same order as it is now being recalled by SC.“
