Court clears Pawars in MSCB bank scam

MUMBAI: A special court for MP/MLA cases that last month accepted the economic offences wing’s closure report in the Rs 25,000-crore Maharashtra State Cooperative Bank (MSCB) scam case involving the late Ajit Pawar , deputy CM Sunetra Pawar and their nephew NCP-SP MLA Rohit Pawar held in many instances that “no loss was caused to the bank due to allotment of loan” and concluded that “no personal wrongful gain is acquired by directors”. It held that no criminal conspiracy was hatched by the accused.

Giving relief to Rohit’s company, Baramati Agro, it said the due legal process was followed in the 2012 auction of Kannad Sahakari Sugar Factory. The detailed 127-page common order was made available Monday.




The allegations centred on 31 district central cooperative banks under the MSCB umbrella that granted loans to sugar factories, which later defaulted. It was alleged that the subsequent auctioning of these factories favoured kin of bank office-bearers. However, special judge Mahesh K Jadhav categorised these as administrative “civil wrongs”, rather than criminal acts.

In the case of five entities, it was alleged that the MSCB board of directors, including Ajit, sanctioned illegal loans and provided favourable terms to units in which they had financial or personal interests.

The judge said statutory reports, witness statements and evidence do not demonstrate the commission of cognisable offences. “Therefore, all protest petitions, including that of original complainant, deserve to be rejected and ‘C’ summary report is liable to be accepted.” The judge pointed out that recovery process is ongoing and that Rs 850 crore has been recovered so far.
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