Barely few months after NCP chief Sharad Pawar’s nephew Ajit Pawar joined the MahaYuti government despite Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s charge of irregularities in the Maharashtra State Cooperative Bank (MSCB) with alleged links with NCP and without directly naming Ajit Pawar, the state cabinet chaired by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde on Thursday decided to give recognition to the bank by allowing the banking transactions of government offices and the investment funds from the public enterprises through the MSSB. Incidentally, Ajit Pawar is the deputy chief minister in the MahaYuti government and he holds the finance and planning departments. The BJP in the past had targeted Ajit Pawar over the alleged irregularities in the MSCB.
MSCB plays a crucial role in Maharashtra’s cooperative sector as it has been a major financier to the players in the sector
According to the release issued by the finance department, The MSCB has been qualified for the banking transactions and additional investment from corporations considering the several factors such as the bank has having Rs 16,000 crores or more in value along with nationalized banks, similarly meeting the criteria that the private banks must must be getting the net profit for 5 years, having Capital Adequacy Ratio of more than 12 percent and no financial restrictions imposed on the bank by the Reserve Bank and after putting the condition of immediate corrective action in case of any issue.
The MSCB with a net worth of over Rs 4000 crore has been making profit for last five consecutive years. Audit has allocated an A class status for the five consecutive years. In addition, RBI has not imposed any financial sanctions or corrective action on the MSCB. ‘’Since the bank has fulfilled all these criterias,the bank has been qualified for the transactions.,” a government officer said, adding that from time to time, the finance department will take action to increase the minimum limit of cash value.
“Also, the list of banks will be updated by including or excluding the names of the relevant banks on this criteria after reviewing every year,” the official said.
The ED had in April filed its first chargesheet in the case against three- against three, Guru Commodity Services Pvt Ltd, Jarandeshwar Sugar Mills Pvt Ltd and chartered accountant Yogesh Bagrecha. The case relates to loans given to sugar factories allegedly without following procedure by officials of the MSCB even after they turned into Non-Performing Assets and their subsequent sale to kin of the accused below market value. The ED had alleged links of deputy CM Ajit Pawar and his wife to the two companies but they were not named then.
The probe in the MSCB was initiated after a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) was filed before the Bombay High Court into the alleged irregularities at the bank. An FIR was first registered by the Economic Offences Wing and the ED too filed a case of alleged money laundering in 2019.
In October 2020, when the Maha Vikas Aghadi government was in power and Pawar was the deputy chief minister, the EOW had filed a 70,000-page closure report in the case, stating that it had found no irregularities. In the closure report, the EOW investigating officer had said that the allegations were of a civil nature and hence he did not find commission of any cognizable offences.
The Economic Offences Wing (EOW), which had given a clean chit to NCP leader Ajit Pawar and over 70 others in 2020 during the MVA government, told a special court in October 2022 that it was continuing its investigation into the Maharashtra State Cooperative Bank (MSCB) alleged fraud case.
The move came after the collapse of Uddhav Thackeray led MVA government in June 2022 and Ajit Pawar was appthe opposition leader in the state legislative assembly.
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Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis at the cabinet meeting strongly expressed his displeasure at the proposal and made a case for the involvement of Mumbai Bank which is headed by BJP legislator.Fadnavis was perturbed by the lack of response from other ministers. However, considering Fadnavis’ displeasure, the finance department reportedly mentioned that the bank’s cash value of Rs 4,000 crore and CAR of more than 12% whereby the MSCB was eligible for carrying out banking transactions of government officers.
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