Singh who was arrested in connection with the Rs 4,355-crore scam at PMC bank was chairman of PMC and the HDIL executive director at the same time.
Mumbai: Former chairman of Punjab and Maharashtra Co-operative (PMC) Bank Waryam Singh has been sent to police custody till October 9.
The Economic Offences Wing of the Mumbai Police arrested Singh on Saturday (October 5). He was produced before the Esplanade court in Mumbai.
Singh who was arrested in connection with the Rs 4,355-crore scam at PMC bank was chairman of PMC and the HDIL executive director at the same time. An investigating officer said that they would need to confront Singh, citing the above premise as reason.
However, Singh’s advocate Vibhav Krishna maintained that Singh would only sign documents and that the decision for the bank were made by former managing director of PMC, Joy Thomas.
Saying that it was wrong to portray Singh’s custody as an arrest, Krishna told the court that his client surrendered on his own and brought to light the fact that he had even written a letter informing authorities of his surrender in advance.
Chartering the course of innocence, Krishna maintained that his client’s summons had no date of appearance mentioned.
“My client merely used to sign the documents. All the documents are already in the custody of RBI appointed administrator and EOW. Back then, when I was a chairman, then also I never had any access to any documents. I am no banker and I got my position because I was elected," Krishna said, according to an ANI report.
The bank accounts of Joy Thomas, who was arrested on October 4, was sent to police custody till October 17 on Saturday.
Thomas was on the run after the EOW registered a case against senior officials of Housing Development and Infrastructure Ltd (HDIL) and PMC bank in connection with a fraud of over Rs 4,355 crore.
Thomas had previously admitted that PMC had not reported financial exposure to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) for six years.
The promoters of debt-ridden Housing Development and Infrastructure Ltd (HDIL) Rakesh and Sarang Wadhawan, accused in PMC Bank scam, were sent to police custody till October 9. They had failed to cooperate in the investigation.
An FIR was registered under various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), including criminal breach of trust, cheating, and forgery.
HDIL and PMC connection:
Police stated that PMC bank in a span of 11 years (2008-2019) had granted loans to HDIL despite non-repayment of loans.
10 out of 44 accounts that were the reason for the bank running into debt were linked to HDIL.
Some of the accounts of those 10 accounts were personal accounts of the accused in the fraud case.
Singh’s dual role in both PMC and HDIL at the same time came into question and authorities thought it was sufficient cause to investigate.
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