Mumbai: Nationalist Congress Party (Sharadchandra Pawar) MLA Rohit Pawar on Saturday alleged that the Enforcement Directorate (ED)’s action to attach the assets of the Kannad Sugar Unit owned by his company Baramati Agro Ltd. was politically motivated and illegal and said that there were many factual errors in the statement issued by ED. He also assured farmers and all stakeholders of the factory not to worry and that he would prove the truth in a court of law.
Read here: ED attaches Sharad Pawar’s grandnephew Rohit Pawar’s properties worth ₹50 cr
“The statement issued by ED states that the case is based on an FIR registered by the Economic Offences Wing, Mumbai Police, (EOW) wherein it is alleged that the SSKs were fraudulently sold by the then officials and directors of Maharashtra State Co-operative Bank (MSCB) at ‘throwaway prices’ to their relatives/private persons without following the due procedure. However, the Economic Offences Wing had not named Baramati Agro Ltd. in its submission. More importantly, in 2012 when Baramati Agro Ltd. acquired the Kannad SSK the MSCB Bank was being run by a board of administrators appointed on the recommendation of the Reserve Bank of India, and not by the then officers and directors of MSCB. So no question of there being any relation of officials/directors with any stakeholder of M/s Baramati Agro Ltd as alleged by ED.” said Pawar in his statement.
He also said that his company was not part of the first auction process of the Kannad sugar factory which failed. But participated in the second auction process. He pointed out the excerpts from the closure report of the EOW. “During the investigation, it is found that the process of sanctioning loans by MSC Bank and sale of sugar mills are carried out in tune with legal provisions and MSC Bank has not caused financial loss from the same or directors of the bank, officials of bank etc. have not benefited from the same. It is also found that the events of violations of guidelines of NABARD, RBI or other regularities do not amount to criminal acts.” states the report.
“Therefore, the press note of the ED in its attempt to substantiate the illegal provisionally attachment order, relies upon factually incorrect allegations. This seems to be politically motivated action and We reserve our lawful rights to take legal action against this mala fide step by the ED,” said Pawar.
Rohit is the grandson of Appasaheb and, the elder brother of NCP founder Sharad Pawar. Elected MLA from Karjat-Jamkhed constituency in Ahmednagar district, Rohit stood by senior Pawar when Ajit Pawar split the party to join the Shiv Sena-BJP government in the state. He is now a key leader of the Sharad Pawar-led NCP (Sharadchandra Pawar) party.
Read here: MSC bank scam: ED attaches properties worth ₹50 crore of Rohit Pawar’s company
Thackeray faction MP Sanjay Raut alleged that ED has taken action against Rohit Pawar as he refused to surrender and leave Sharad Pawar. “Rohit Pawar can not do anything wrong. As we saw in the past, ED’s action was always politically motivated. If Rohit Pawar joined uncle Ajit Pawar or BJP then ED will close the matter as the agency did in the cases of Ajit Pawar and Praful Patel. But Rohit Pawar will not surrender before Delhi and will continue to fight.” said Raut.
NCP MP Supriya Sule criticised the action against Rohit Pawar and pointed out that the action was taken despite EOW has not mentioned the name of Rohit Pawar or his firm in its submission. “There was no word about Rohit Pawar or his firm in EOW’s submission in the matter. Still, ED took actions that showed that it was politically motivated,” said Sule.
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