As part of its continuing money laundering probe into an alleged fraud and theft of public funds totaling Rs 429 crore, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) announced that it had made another arrest.
The accused, Sagar Maruti Suryawanshi, was taken into custody on June 15 under the criminal sections of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) in the Pune-based Seva Vikas Co-operative Bank fraud case probe. A special PMLA court has sent him to Enforcement Directorate (ED) custody till June 26.
Sagar Suryawanshi and his relatives were found to have defrauded the bank to the tune of Rs 60.67 crore in 10 NPA (non-performing assets) loan accounts. He obtained loans in connivance with Amar Mulchandani (former chairman of the bank) and without having sufficient creditworthiness and repaying capacity, the agency said in a statement. Maharashtra Police had arrested Mulchandani and five of his family members for obstructing an ED raid conducted against the former bank chairman on January 27 and for alleged destruction of evidence. The money laundering probe against Mulchandani and others stems from multiple FIRs registered by the Pune police on the basis of complaints of the bank and an audit conducted by the Registrar of Cooperative Societies which pointed to large-scale fraud and misappropriation of public funds causing a loss of Rs 429 crore to the Seva Vikas Co-operative Bank and thereby causing loss to thousands of small depositors.
The bank was being run like a family proprietorship by Amar Mulchandani without following any prudent banking norms and favoured loans were sanctioned in return of massive kickbacks, the ED claimed.