Source : INDIA TODAY NEWS
The ED has restored immovable properties worth Rs 289.54 crore to the competent authority under the Maharashtra Protection of Interest of Depositors (MPID) Act in a case pertaining to Pen co-operative Urban Bank Ltd.
The assets were provisionally attached by the ED under Section 5 of Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002, as the erstwhile office bearers had allegedly cheated the banks and siphoned off the bank funds for private investments, the probe agency said.
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An investigation was initiated based on the FIR registered by Pen Police Station in Maharashtra’s Raigad district.
It was alleged in the chargesheet that the bank’s office bearers entered into criminal conspiracy with the then auditors of the bank and intentionally manipulated the books of accounts of the bank, and fraudulently reported profit and caused a loss of Rs 651.35 crore to the institution.
ED investigations revealed that the proceeds generated from the crime of forgery and cheating were diverted and routed through the bogus cash credit accounts opened in the said bank using the services of cheque discounters in the market.
Part of such proceeds of crime was utilised for the purchase of immovable properties at different locations in Raigad district in the names of third parties (benami properties). These benami properties measuring 70.9 acres worth Rs 25.20 crore were attached between May 26, 2014 and December 2, 2014 under Section 5 of PMLA Act, 2002, according to the ED.
On June 20, 2018, a prosecution complaint was filed in the case before a PMLA court and the trial was underway.
A plea was filed by one of the depositors of Pen Bank before the Bombay High Court, seeking the release of the properties attached under the PMLA. The High Court, in an order on October 7, 2016, directed the ED to hand over the properties to MPID.
Against the said order, the ED filed a plea on November 3, 2017, which granted a pause to the High Court’s order. MPID authorities filed an application in 2019 before the PMLA court to confiscate the attached property to MPID for its restitution.
Pen Bank had two lakh depositors and 42,000 shareholders who had lost their hard-earned money. In the larger interest of depositors and currently ongoing restitution efforts, ED took a pragmatic view and decided to withdraw the plea before the court.
Consequently, an affidavit was filed before the court which was allowed and the plea was withdrawn. The ED then filed an affidavit before the PMLA court, expressing willingness to restitute the properties covered by the High Court’s 2016 order.
On January 14, the PMLA court allowed the ED’s application and ordered the restoration of 29 immovable properties, which are presently valued at Rs 289.54 crore to the competent authority under the MPID Act.
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SOURCE :- TIMES OF INDIA
