PMC bank employees were forced to create false data, states Mumbai Police's chargesheet

On Friday, the economic offences wing (EOW) of the Mumbai Police filed a chargesheet before the Metropolitan Magistrate Court in the ₹6,670-crore fraud case against Punjab and Maharashtra Co-operative (PMC) Bank. The chargesheet revealed that certain employees of PMC bank were forced to create false data which has to be submitted to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), to hide problematic loan accounts of Housing Development and Infrastructure Limited (HDIL).

The chargesheet filed by the EOW officials before the court runs into around 33,000 pages. Republic TV has accessed the synopsis of the chargesheet which revealed that certain employees of the bank were not only forced to create false data, but were also allegedly aware of hidden accounts of the HDIL which were not disclosed since two-years i.e since 2017, before the scam came to light.

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False reports recorded

Former Managing Director of PMC Joy Thomas and other functionaries including the Executives and the Board of Directors of the bank, intentionally reported false records of its account to the RBI to subdue loan accounts of the HDIL groups.

The charge sheet also includes the forensic audit report of PMC Bank, details of diversions of funds by the prime accused, Wadhawans, documents of properties purchased by the accused bank officials and kickbacks received by them from promoters of HDIL. The charge sheet also shows details of 21,000 fake accounts that were created by bank officials to hoodwink the RBI for NPAs and bad loans that were given to HDIL.

READ: Inspection report of scam-hit PMC Bank yet to be finalised: RBI

12 arrests so far 

The 340-witness' statements in the chargesheet include those of account holders in the PMC Bank. Some of the witnesses recorded their statements under Section 164 CrPc in front of the magistrate. The EOW action comes days after the ED filed a chargesheet against the HDIL promoters Rakesh Wadhawan and Sarang Wadhawan before a special court set up under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). They were initially arrested by the EOW and later taken into custody by the ED.

Twelve people have so far been arrested by the EOW in connection with the scam. Among them, the five who have been named in the EOW chargesheet are at presently in judicial custody.

READ: PMC Bank crisis: Administrator to seek valuation of HDIL's aircraft, yacht

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