New Delhi: Enforcement Directorate on Sunday summoned Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut's wife, Varsha Raut, for questioning on 29 December in connection with PMC Bank scam.
This is the third summons issued to Varsha Raut after she skipped the earlier two on health grounds, the officials said, reported.
The summons for questioning has been issued to her under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
The ED wants to question Varsha Raut with regard to "receipt" of some funds that were allegedly siphoned from the bank, official sources claimed.
BJP leader Kirit Somaiya asked Raut on Twitter if either him or anyone from his family has had any financial transaction with PMC Bank.
The ED had filed a PMLA case to probe the alleged loan fraud in the Punjab and Maharashtra Co-operative (PMC) Bank in October last year against the Housing Development Infrastructure Ltd (HDIL), its promoters Rakesh Kumar Wadhawan and his son Sarang Wadhawan, its former chairman Waryam Singh and ex-managing director Joy Thomas.
The ED had filed a PMLA case to probe the alleged loan fraud in the Punjab and Maharashtra Co-operative (PMC) Bank in October last year against the Housing Development Infrastructure Ltd (HDIL), its promoters Rakesh Kumar Wadhawan and his son Sarang Wadhawan, its former chairman Waryam Singh and ex-managing director Joy Thomas.
The agency took cognisance of a Mumbai Police Economic Offences Wing FIR against them for allegedly causing "wrongful loss, prima facie to the tune of ₹4,355 crore to PMC Bank, and corresponding gains to themselves".
The Shiv Sena, which is part of Maharashtra's ruling alliance Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) along with the NCP and the Congress, had earlier alleged that central probe agencies have been targeting them unfairly.
Former BJP leader Eknath Khadse, who recently joined Sharad Pawar's Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), has also been summoned by the ED for questioning on December 30 in Mumbai in connection with a money laundering case linked to a land deal in Pune's Bhosri area.
In September 2019, the RBI had imposed restrictions on the fraud-hit Punjab and Maharashtra Cooperative (PMC) Bank, including on withdrawals by customers, following a scam. Depositors had held several protests demanding their money back.
Last month, PMC had invited expression of interest (EoI) from potential investors for investment or equity participation in the bank for its reconstruction.
On September 23, 2019, the RBI had superseded the board of PMC and placed it under various regulatory restrictions after detection of certain financial irregularities, hiding and misreporting of loans given to real estate developer HDIL.
Its exposure to HDIL was over ₹6,500 crore or 73 per cent of its total loan book size of ₹8,880 crore as of September 19, 2019.
Initially, the RBI had allowed depositors to withdraw ₹1,000 which was later raised to ₹1 lakh per account to mitigate their difficulties. In June this year, the RBI had extended the regulatory restrictions on the cooperative bank by another six months till December 22, 2020.
As of March 31, 2020, PMC Bank's total deposits stood at ₹10,727.12 crore and total advances at ₹4,472.78 crore. Gross NPA of the bank stood at ₹3,518.89 crore as on end-March.
The share capital of the bank is ₹292.94 crore. During 2019-20, it registered a net loss of ₹6,835 crore and has a negative net worth of ₹5,850.61 crore.