Mumbai: The special Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 (PMLA) court while hearing the Punjab and Maharashtra Cooperative Bank (PMC) bank scam has restrained key accused Rakesh Wadhawan of Housing Development Infrastructure Ltd (HDIL) from stepping out of his house and not to use any gadgets, mobile phone, laptop, computer during the three months of interim bail obtained on medical grounds.
The apex court after hearing the plea of Wadhawan, granted him interim bail to avail medical treatment for various ailments he is alleged to have been suffering. After the order passed by the apex court, Wadhawan’s legal team approached the special court for a formal release order and conditions of the bail.
Wadhawan directed to pay police escort expenses
The special judge while setting conditions for Wadhawan said that he “shall be required to remain confined to his residential house at Bandra under police escort, expenses of which shall be borne by Wadhawan for three months.”
Besides, the court has asked Wadhawan to clear escort charges on a weekly basis. Besides, in case he is required to be shifted to a private hospital, he shall intimate the same to the investigating officer of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) as well as the Economic Offences Wing of Mumbai police and the special court hearing the case.
The court has also asked the probe agency to deploy their staff if required at Wadhawan’s house to keep a watch on his activities and report back to court in case of any violations.
Wadhawan and son arrested in October 2019
On September 30, 2019, the Economic Offences Wing registered an offence in connection with the alleged fraud at the multi-state cooperative bank, which was later investigated by the ED and Wadhawan along with his son Sarang was arrested on October 17, 2019.
The bank had allegedly masked 44 problematic loan accounts involving advances to the tune of Rs 7,457.49 crore – mostly extended to HDIL, by tampering with its core banking system, and the accounts were accessible only to limited staff members.
The bank had created 21,049 fictitious accounts to ensure its master data tallied with loan disbursal of Rs 7,457.49 crore. However, HDIL later defaulted on the loan, after which the probe was initiated. Many of the staff members and directors of the bank are also added as accused in the case.
