ED files chargesheet in PMC Bank scam, names HDIL promoters as accused

Enforcement Directorate (ED) filed the chargesheet in Punjab and Maharashtra Cooperative (PMC) Bank scam on Monday (December 16). In its chargesheet, the ED has said that Housing Development Infrastructure Ltd (HDIL) promoters Rakesh and Sarang Wadhawan misused the bank funds to launder money.

The central probe agency has also named former Managing Director of PMC Bank, Joy Thomas, and former PMC Bank Chairman Waryam Singh as accused in multi-crore PMC Bank scam.

In its 7000-page chargesheet, the ED has also provided details of the property of Waryam Singh in the US. According to ED, Wadhawan is a key accused in this case and the bank transactions done by Wadhawan are important evidence in this case. The ED has said that some employees of the PMC Bank were involved in the irregularities and they gave loans to Wadhawans without checking their documents.

The ED submitted its charge sheet before a special court set up under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). It is to be noted that the Wadhawans have been booked under various provisions of the PMLA.

The Wadhawans were first arrested by Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of Mumbai Police and were taken into custody by the ED in October, 2019. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) placed the PMC Bank under an administrator on September 23, 2019 for six months due to under-reporting of bad loans by PMC Bank employees.

The RBI had ordered the bank to stop granting or renewing any loans and advances, make any investment or incur any liability, including borrower of funds and acceptance of fresh deposits. Initially, the RBI had also capped the withdrawal limit for the PMC Bank depositors to Rs 1,000 but the limit was increased to Rs 50,000 in phase-wise manner.