HDIL promoters, Rakesh Wadhawan and son Sarang have been in police custody for a while now. It is now being said that Enforcement Directorate (ED) has filed its charge sheet against them. For those unaware, the duo is the main accused in the Rs 6,500-crore PMC Bank case. The agency submitted its charge sheet, running into around 7,000 pages before a special court set up under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act.
The Reserve Bank of India in an affidavit, to the Bombay High Court, had stated that it was ‘cheated’ by the management of PMC Bank. The affidavit, filed by the Assistant General Manager, Department of Co-operative Bank Supervision, RBI, said that PMC Bank had repeatedly manipulated data to the central bank for sample checks, but “the sample of accounts picked for inspection did not contain undisclosed HDIL accounts.“
The RBI inspection team had seen the HDIL accounts that were shown by PMC Bank but a majority of them were declared as non-performing assets. The affidavit added that the PMC Bank had also sanctioned mortgage limits to a wholly-owned subsidiary of the HDIL.
While doing so, the bank had initiated a conflict of interest as the bank’s Chairman, the now arrested S. Waryam Singh, was also a director of the company. This was also a direct violation of the RBI’s Master Circulars to the effect of July 2010 and July 2012.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Sunday evening met a delegation of people protesting outside Matoshree. Hundreds of protestor affected by Punjab and Maharashtra Co-operative (PMC) bank scam gathered outside CM’s unofficial residence.
The protesters demanded the government come forward and help them financially. Along with this, the money withdrawal restriction should be lifted. CM Thackeray met these protestors and assured them that their problems will be resolved soon.
During the protest, the PMC bank customers held a poster which read: ‘Help the account holders.’ After talking to the CM, the protestors informed that the CM has assured ‘action’ against the culprit and justice to the affected customers.
Until now, more than 10 people have lost their lives as the PMC scam has unfolded. The PMC customers can only withdraw only one lakh rupee in the case of an emergency. There have been 12 people have been arrested in this connection.
The Uddhav Thackeray-led Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government in Maharashtra had announced that the PMC bank and Maharashtra Cooperative bank will be merged to provide relief to the victims.