The Enforcement Directorate has attached a sugar mill worth Rs 65 crore in Satara, which is linked to Maharashtra deputy chief minister and NCP leader Ajit Pawar and his wife Sunetra Pawar, as part of the probe into a money laundering case pertaining to Maharashtra State Co-operative Bank (MSCB). These assets include land, building, machinery and other facilities held by a Guru Commodity Services Private Limited, that had leased it to a sugar mill— Jarandeshwar Sahkari Sugar Karkhana (SSK)— in Maharashtra’s Satara district.
“The Enforcement Directorate has attached the properties including Land, Building & Structure and Plant & Machinery of M/s Jarandeshwar Sahkari Sugar Karkhana (Jarandeshwar SSK) situated at Chimangaon, Koregaon, Satara, Maharashtra worth Rs. 65,75,00,000/- (purchase price of the year 2010) under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering, 2002 (PMLA) in a case related to Maharashtra State Co-operative Bank (MSCB). The assets are currently held in the name of M/s Guru Commodity Services Pvt. Ltd. and leased to M/s Jarandeshwar Sugar Mills Pvt. Ltd. M/s Sparkling Soil Pvt. Ltd. is holding majority shares of M/s Jarandeshwar Sugar Mills Pvt. Ltd. Investigations revealed that M/s Sparkling Soil Pvt. Ltd. is a related company to Ajit Pawar, Deputy Chief Minister of State of Maharashtra and Sunetra Ajit Pawar.” ED release stated.
Reacting to the development, NCP said that it was nothing but a move to malign the party and its leaders. However, Ajit Pawar, the nephew of NCP supremo Sharad Pawar, remained unfazed and said that he was seeking legal advice on the issue. “The agency (ED) has the right to conduct an inquiry. Earlier, the state-CID and Anti-Corruption Bureau did the investigation but nothing came out. The Economic Offences Wing probe is also underway. The investigation is being done from all sides but nothing has come out. A judicial probe had also been conducted,” Pawar said.
He also said he had no idea why Guru Commodity Services— which owns the sugar factory— was facing probe. “This sugar factory was among 14 mills which were sold after they failed to repay loans to MSC Bank. The Bombay High Court had asked the bank to give them one year and put them up for sale if they could not clear the outstanding amounts in that period,” said Pawar in Pune. He was not at all associated with Guru Commodity Services, the deputy CM said.
In the MSCB case which was investigated on directions from the Bombay high court, ED has alleged that MSCB officials sanctioned loans to sick sugar mills and when the mills defaulted on the loans, they were auctioned off to recover the loss. The MSCB officials ensured that relatives or close associates of senior politicians got the mills during the auction at throwaway prices.