ED had registered an Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR) against NCP chief Sharad Pawar. However, Pawar said that he will continue to campaign for NCP for the October 21 Assembly election in Maharashtra.
Mumbai: Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar has said that he will visit the Enforcement Directorate (ED) office on September 27. Pawar was named in the money laundering case by the ED.
ED had registered an Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR) against NCP chief Sharad Pawar, party leader Ajit Pawar and others in connection with the Rs 5,000 crore Maharashtra State Co-operative Bank (MSCB) scam case.
Few hours after the Enforcement Directorate (ED) filed a case against him and others in the Maharashtra State Cooperative Bank (MSCB) scam case, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar on Tuesday said that he would have been "surprised" had there not been such an action against him given the "huge" response he received during his poll campaign in Maharashtra.
In a sarcastic comment, Sharad Pawar also "thanked" the central agency for naming him in the case relating to the bank of which he "is not a member and was not involved in its decision-making" in any way.
The Maharashtra unit of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), however, justified the Enforcement Directorate (ED) action, saying it took the steps as per rules and procedure.
"I thank the probe agencies because they have involved my name in a case relating to such a bank of which I am not even a member of, I was not involved in its decision-making," Sharad Pawar told reporters.
"If they have filed a case against me too, I welcome it. I would have been surprised had such action not been taken against me after the kind of response I receive during my visits to various districts of the state," Sharad Pawar added.
The former Union minister, however, said that he will continue with his campaigning for the October 21 assembly polls in Maharashtra.
Sharad Pawar, who initially appeared clueless about his name figuring in the ED's case, said that he has not received any notice yet
The NCP dismissed it as a politically motivated case.
On September 23, ED registered ECIR based on the FIR registered by the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of Mumbai Police following directions from the Bombay High Court, ED sources said. "The FIR was thereafter filed and consequently an ECIR was recorded on September 23, 2019 against the then Chairman, MDs, Directors of Maharashtra State Cooperative bank (MSC), along with Sharad Pawar, Ajit Pawar, Diliprao Deshmukh, Isharlal Jain, Jayant Patil, Shivaji Rao Nalvade, Anand Rao Adsul, Rajendra Shingane, Madan Patil and others," they said.
ED sources said that it is alleged that the then top executives - Chairman, MDs, Directors, CEOs, managerial staff of Maharashtra state cooperative bank (MSC) and office bearers and directors of Sakhar Karkhanas (cooperative sugar factories "CSF"), Soot Girnis and other processing units were given loans in a fraudulent manner by MSC Bank and in-process several illegalities were committed. The scam is pegged at Rs 25,000 crore.
(With inputs from ANI and PTI)
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