Pawar meets min over PMC crisis

Mumbai: Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar Monday met Union minister of state for finance, Anurag Singh Thakur, in Delhi over the Punjab and Maharashtra Cooperative (PMC) Bank crisis. After the meeting to discuss possibilities of reviving the beleaguered bank, the Rajya Sabha member termed the discussion as “constructive”.

“Had a meeting with Union minister of state for finance, Anurag Singh Thakur (@ianuragthakur), in New Delhi to raise the issue of revival of the PMC Bank. We had a constructive exchange of views on the topic,” Mr Pawar tweeted.

After a multi-crore scam came to light, the RBI placed restrictions on PMC Bank following which withdrawal was initially capped at '1,000 causing panic and distress among depositors. The withdrawal limit was gradually increased to '50,000.

The fraud at PMC Bank came to light in September last year after the RBI discovered that the bank had allegedly created fictitious accounts to hide over '6,700 crore in loans extended to the almost-bankrupt Housing Develo-pment and Infrastructure Limited (HDIL).

According to the RBI, the PMC Bank had masked 44 problematic loan accounts, including HDIL loan accounts, by tampering with its core banking system, and the accounts were accessible only to limited staff members.

The Mumbai police’s Economic Offences Wing (EOW) and Enforcement Directorate registered offences in the case.

The EOW last month submitted a 32,000-page chargesheet against five persons in the multi-crore PMC Bank scam.

The charge sheet named former managing director of the bank Joy Thomas, former chairman Waryam Singh, former director of the bank Surjit Singh Arora, along with HDIL promoters Rakesh Wadhawan and Sarang Wadhawan.