Big blow to Rohit Pawar! ED attaches Rs 50 crore assets of sugar mill linked to Rohit Pawar

In a major blow to the Rohit Pawar, Enforcement Directorate (ED) has attached assets worth Rs 50 crore belonging to Kannad Sahakari Sakhar Karkhana Ltd, which is owned by NCP leader's company Baramati Agro Ltd. T

 

The ED action is part of its probe into a money-laundering case related to the Rs 25,000-crore Maharashtra State Cooperative Bank (MSCB) scam. It has been alleged that the MSCB illegally sold sugar factories to M/s Baramati Agro Ltd.

 

“The attached assets consist of 161.30 acre of land, plant and machinery and building of the sugar unit in the Kannad region of the Aurangabad district in Maharashtra,” the ED said on Friday.

 

 

Reacting to the development, Opposition NCP (SP) MLA Rohit Pawar said that irrespective of any action against him by the ED, he will not join the BJP.

 

“The BJP should remember that those who bent (in pressure), have long gone. We are here to fight till the end and win,” he said, adding that the action, which he learnt from X, was an indication that the code of conduct for election will be applied soon.

 

“This is an illegal action and we will approach the court. I appeal to the workers at the factory to not worry. I know that there is no point in asking why I am being targeted. I believe that the action taken on Mahashivratri will ensure that those behind it will be taught a lesson by the people in whom I see Lord Mahadev,” he said.

 

Earlier, in January, the agency had raided the premises linked to Baramati Agro. Searches were also carried out on the premises of Kannad Sahakari Sakhar Karkhana in Aurangabad, two offices of Baramati Agro in Pimpali in Baramati, the premises of Hitech Engineering Corporation, and places belonging to Rajesh Ingavle and Sanjay Avan (both linked to Hitech Engineering) and premises of another firm Samruddhi Sugar Mill.

 

 

The money laundering investigation into Rohit Pawar’s firm is related to charges of “diversion” of cash and alleged transfer of earnest payments by his company to Hitech that bid along with Baramati Agro to purchase an ailing Maharashtra-based cooperative sugar factory (CSF) Kannad Sahakari Sakhar Karkhana (SSK).

 

ED sources said they suspect that Baramati Agro connived with Hitech to bid for Kannad SSK and manipulated the auction process to wrongfully win the bid. For the same purpose, Baramati Agro is alleged to have transferred earnest money for the bid to Hitech to participate in the bid process and bid a lower amount than itself.

 

The said factory was taken over by Baramati Agro at Rs 50 crore, which is a significantly undervalued price and suspected to be a result of a manipulated auction under the Maharashtra State Co-operative Bank, the anti-money laundering agency suspects.

 

 

According to the ED, it started an investigation into the alleged scam on the basis of an FlR registered by Mumbai police Economic Offence Wing under various sections of IPC and of Prevention of Corruption Act.

 

The said FIR was registered in pursuance of the order dated August 22, 2019, of the Bombay High Court. In the said FIR, it has been alleged that the SSKs (sugar mills were fraudulently sold by the then officers and Directors of the MSCB at throw-away prices to their relatives/private persons without following due procedure.

 

Later during the ED’s money laundering investigation, it was revealed that to recover the outstanding loan of Rs 80.56 crore of M/s Kannad SSK Limited, MSCB took possession of all the assets of SSK on July 13, 2009, under SARFAESI Act.

 

On August 30, 2012, the MSCB conducted an auction of Kannad SSK by fixing a very low reserve price based on a questionable valuation report.

 

Apart from M/s Baramati Agro Ltd, which is owned by Rohit Pawar, two other parties entered the bidding process. The bidder with the highest bid was technically disqualified on flimsy ground, whereas the other bidder was already a close business associate of M/s Baramati Agro Ltd with no financial capacity or experience of running a sugar unit, the agency stated on Friday.

 

Based on the investigation conducted and evidence collected under PMLA so far, it has been established that the acquisition of Kannad SSK by M/s Baramati Agro Ltd was illegal and assets so acquired are proceeds of crime under the section 20(u) of the PMLA, 2002. Accordingly, a Provisional attachment order under PMLA was issued attaching all the assets of Kannad SSK acquired for Rs 50.20 Crore, the agency said in the statement.

 

Earlier in this case, three provisional attachment orders have been issued where assets acquired at Rs 121.47 crore have been attached.

 

A main and two supplementary prosecution complaints have been filed by the agency in the special PMLA Court, Mumbai for wrongful acquisition of three other SSKs, the ED has said.