HDIL promoters, PMC Bank board members charged with money-laundering

Mumbai: An investigation for money-laundering in the Punjab and Maharashtra Co-operative Bank (PMC) loan default case has been initiated by the Enforcement Directorate.

Six locations linked to the former chairman of the PMC Bank and promoters of crisis-hit real estate firm Housing Development and Infrastructure Ltd (HDIL) were searched by the ED in Mumbai and adjoining areas on Friday, officials said.

They said the raids were being conducted after a criminal compliant was filed under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act by the ED. The Enforcement Directorate case is based on an FIR filed by the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of Mumbai police.

The raids are aimed at gathering additional evidence, ED sources said. The ED and Mumbai Police case is against former bank management and promoters of the Housing Development Infrastructure Limited (HDIL). Based on a complaint by an RBI-appointed administrator, the police complaint was filed earlier this week on charges of forgery, cheating and criminal conspiracy against the officials.

Two chiefs of HDIL that triggered off the crisis at PMC Bank by defaulting on loans worth nearly Rs. 6,500 crore were arrested in Mumbai on Thursday. Economic Offences Wing of the Mumbai Police arrested the two directors at HDIL, Rakesh Wadhawan and Sarang Wadhawan.

According to the initial investigation, police said, the PMC Bank's losses since 2008 were Rs 4,355.46 crore. The bank's former chairman Waryam Singh, managing director Joy Thomas and other senior officials, along with a director of HDIL, have been named in the FIR.