Pune10 hours ago
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The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has attached assets worth Rs 65.75 crore belonging to Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar in connection with the Maharashtra State Co-operative Bank scam. These include the land, building, plant and machines of the sugar mill located at Chimangaon in Koregaon. These properties were bought in 2010 for the same price. In this case, Ajit Pawar said that he has not received any notice from the investigating agency and he is not aware of it.
The Enforcement Directorate said in a statement that the confiscated properties are owned by M/s Guru Commodity Service Pvt Ltd and given on lease to M/s Jarandeshwar Sahakari Sugar Factory (Jarandeshwar SSK). According to the ED, the majority stake in Jarandeshwar Cooperative Sugar Factory is with M/s Sparkling Soil Pvt Ltd, which is linked to Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar and his wife Sunetra Pawar.
ED is probing money laundering
In this case, the Economic Offenses Wing of Mumbai Police had registered an FIR in 2019. ED is investigating by registering a case of money laundering on the basis of this. The ED claims that in 2010, the Maharashtra State Cooperative Bank had auctioned the Jarandeshwar Cooperative Sugar Factory, but deliberately under-priced it.
According to the probe agency, Pawar was on the board of directors of the Maharashtra State Co-operative Bank and is one of the influential people. The cooperative sugar factory Guru Commodity Services Limited bought and immediately leased it out to the Jarandeshwar cooperative sugar factory.
People know the secret behind this investigation: Ajit Pawar
Ajit Pawar said on the action of ED, ‘Probe, but the investigation should be done in a transparent manner. The public knows the secret behind the ED investigation. Every investigating agency has the right to investigate, show scam and then accuse me. Trying to defame me continues. There have been many investigations before this too, but nothing was achieved. We had taken BVG’s side to run the factory and in the very first year it incurred losses. The Jardeshwar factory was the most expensive sold.
Ajit Pawar accused of forming a fake company
It is alleged that Ajit Pawar and his wife formed a fake company named M/s Guru Commodity Service Private Limited to get the ownership rights of it. Apart from this, through Jarandeshwar Sugar Factory, took a loan of Rs 700 crore from Pune District Central Co-Operative Bank in the name of Cooperative Sugar Factory.
Pawar family has taken over sugar mills: Somaiya
In this case, BJP leader Kirit Somaiya said that the ED has attached the property of Ajit Pawar’s benami sugar factory. Sharad Pawar’s family has made many such sugar factories in their name by scam in co-operative bank. Rohit Pawar has taken over a sugar factory in the same way, it should also be investigated.
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