New Delhi:
The Enforcement Directorate (ED), Mumbai Zone, has returned immovable properties worth Rs 289.54 crore to the competent authority, MPID, appointed by the Government of Maharashtra in the case of M/s Pen Co-operative Urban Bank Ltd, said an official Friday .
A statement said that ED had provisionally attached the assets under Section 5 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002, as the former office-bearers had cheated the banks and siphoned off the bank funds for private investments.
The investigation was initiated on the basis of the FIR registered by Pen Police Station, District Raigad, Maharashtra. The LEA in its complaint alleged that office bearers of the bank had entered into a criminal conspiracy with the then accountants of the Bank, deliberately and willfully manipulated the accounts of Pen Bank and fraudulently reported profits causing a loss of Rs. 651.35 Crore to the bank.
ED investigation has revealed that the proceeds arising from the crime of forgery and cheating were diverted and diverted through the fake cash credit accounts opened in the said bank using the services of check discounters in the market.
The statement further said that part of this Proceeds of Crime (POC) was used to purchase properties at various locations in Raigad district of Maharashtra in the name of third parties (Benami properties).
“These properties in Benami measuring 70.9 hectares worth Rs. 25.20 Crore were added to PMLA u/s 5 on 26.05.2014 and 03.12.2014. A further prosecution complaint dated 20.06.2018 is in the present case filed before the Hon'ble Special Court, PMLA and the trial is underway,” it said.
“In the meantime, a criminal petition was filed by one of the depositors of Pen Urban Cooperative Bank Ltd in the Hon'ble Bombay High Court praying for release of the properties attached under the PMLA. The vide order of the Hon'ble Bombay High Court dated 07.10.2016 directed the ED to hand over the properties to MPID.Against the said order, ED filed an SLP before the Apex Court vide order of 03.11.2017, wherein permission was granted. (PMLA), Mumbai to confiscate the seized properties to MPID for their restitution,” it further stated.
Pen Co-operative Urban Bank Ltd had 2 lakh depositors and 42,000 shareholders who lost their hard-earned money. In the larger interest of the depositors and the currently ongoing refund efforts, ED took a pragmatic stand and decided to withdraw the SLP before the Apex Court.
“Consequently, an affidavit was filed before the apex court, which granted a vide order, dated 13.12.2024, and SLP was withdrawn,” the statement said.
It stated, “ED thereafter filed an affidavit before the Hon'ble Special Court (PMLA), Mumbai, expressing its willingness to restore the properties covered by the Supreme Court order dated 07.10.2016. Vide order dated 14.01.2025, the Hon'ble High Court 'ble Special Court (PMLA) allowed the ED's application and ordered restoration of 29 immovable properties currently valued at Rs.289.54 Crore to the competent authority under the MPID Act.”
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