Seva Vikas Co-op Bank case: ED attaches 47 properties worth ₹121 crore

Mumbai: In the Seva Vikas Cooperative Bank fraud case, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) has provisionally attached 47 immovable properties worth ₹121.81 crore and movable assets worth ₹54.25 lakh belonging to Amar Mulchandani, Sagar Suryawanshi, Khemchand Bhojwani and their family members/entities under the provisions of Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

The ED had initiated the investigation based on the predicate FIR registered at Vimantal police station in Pune against Vinay Aranha of Rosary Education Group and others for loan fraud. Subsequently, the Joint Registrar (Audit) did an audit of the cooperative bank and found gross fraud and misappropriation of ₹429.6 crore across 124 loan accounts declared non-performing assets (NPAs).

Illegal loans sanctioned by the bank management

Based on this audit report, additional FIRs were registered against the loan beneficiaries and bank management, including its ex-chairman Amar Mulchandani. While the RBI has cancelled the license of the bank, the ED is investigating the fraud in which small deposits of thousands of unsuspecting depositors were siphoned off by illegal loans sanctioned by the bank management.

Mulchandani took bribes at the rate of 20% commission of the sanctioned loans

An agency official said that the ED probe has established that Mulchandani treated public deposits in the bank like his personal fiefdom and violated all prudent banking norms to illegally sanction loans to his favoured borrowers in an arbitrary manner, without checking their creditworthiness and without adequate collateral securities and after taking bribes at the rate of 20% commission of the sanctioned loans.

The official added that Mulchanadni made his family members as directors in the bank with a clear motive to have a brute majority in the board of directors to sanction loans as per his whims and fancies. “Mulchandani also sanctioned various benami bogus loans to siphon off money. Major loan defaulters – Vinay Aranha, Sagar Suryawanshi and Khemchand Bhojwani – were found to be hand in glove with him. They acted as mutual guarantors in their loan accounts which all turned into NPA.”

As per an agency statement, loans were sanctioned to them illegally and with the clear objective from day one to default on the loan. “New loans were sanctioned to repay older loans. The ED has traced several benami investments made by Mulchandani and others,” the statement read.