Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut's wife, Varsha, who has been summoned by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) is unlikely to appear before the agency on Tuesday.
She was slated to arrive before the agency after being summoned to join investigation in the Punjab and Maharashtra Co-operative (PMC) Bank scam case. Sources said that she has sought more time to appear before the agency.
As ED sleuths are scanning documents linked to the scam, loans to Varsha Raut from the wife of an accused have also come under scrutiny. The transaction is being probed by the agency and an explanation in this regard is likely to be sought during the questioning. The declaration in Sanjay Raut’s election affidavit also mentions the dues.
The agency is scanning financial records for further investigation. "There are several transactions. The total amount is yet to be ascertained," said a high-ranking officer privy to the investigation.
This will be the first time Raut’s name has been linked with the multi-crore scam which has been probed by The Economic Offences Wing’s (EOW) special investigation team (SIT) and the ED. The ED chargesheet filed in the case mentions the “ever-greening” of loans, which is a term for banks propping up ailing companies with fresh loans even as these firms struggle to repay old debts. Over 73% of PMC Bank’s loan exposure was to HDIL, the ED probe revealed.
According to the first information report (FIR) registered by EOW on September 30 last year, the accused bank officials have admitted to not classifying loans on which HDIL had defaulted as non-performing assets. Investigations have revealed 44 suspicious loan accounts linked to HDIL. Using 20,149 fictitious bank accounts, whose individual balances were low, the bank covered up the HDIL group of companies defaulting on payments.
As Monday witnessed political slugfest between the ruling Shiv Sena-led Maha Vikas Aghadi and the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party, few men put up a poster outside the Enforcement Directorate’s Mumbai office in Ballard Estate declaring it the 'BJP state office'.
