ED Notice To Pune And Satara District Banks Regarding Jarandeshwar Sugar Factory Loan Allocation Case
Pune, 10th July 2021: On July 1, Enforcement Directorate (ED) seized the Jarandeshwar Sugar Factory in a financial scam. This Jarandeshwar Sugar Factory belongs to the relatives of Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar.
Following the action taken against the factory, the ED has now issued notices to the banks which had given loans for the purchase of the factory. The ED has issued notices to both Pune District Central Cooperative Bank Limited and Satara District Central Cooperative Bank Limited.
The notice was issued after it was revealed that Satara District Bank had given a loan of Rs 96 crore. At present, the district bank is under the control of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and it has come to notice that four banks, including Pune District Bank, have given loans to Jarandeshwar.
Pune District Central Bank has given a loan of Rs 250 crore to Jarandeshwar Sugar Factory. The ED has issued a notice to the bank in this loan allocation case. The notice was issued on Friday and the bank has been asked to provide details of the loan. The Jarandeshwar Sugar Factory was confiscated due to non-payment of arrears.
Former MLA and Revenue Minister Shalini Patil was the founder and chairman of the factory. The Jarandeshwar Sugar Factory at Kopargaon in Satara was put up for auction due to bad debts. The factory was auctioned off by Shikhar Bank. However, it was alleged that the auction was intentional. The company, which had an annual turnover of less than Rs one crore, had bought a sugar factory worth over Rs 60 crore. The ED has taken this action due to financial malpractice in the entire case.
Anna Hazare had filed a public interest litigation (PIL) in the Bombay High Court in this regard. Accordingly, the Mumbai Police Crimes Branch registered a case. The ED has filed a separate case in this regard.
