Ajit Pawar-linked sugar mill owes ₹487 Cr to bank: ED

MUMBAI: In its first chargesheet in the alleged financial irregularities at Maharashtra State Cooperative (MSC) Bank, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) has claimed that Jarandeshwar Sugar Mill Pvt Ltd, which is linked to firms where Ajit Pawar and his wife Sunetra were directors earlier, had obtained loans worth ₹826 crore from the bank, out of which ₹487 crore is still outstanding.

Last month, the ED filed a chargesheet against M/s Guru Commodity Services Pvt Ltd, its chartered accountant Yogesh Bagrecha and Jarandeshwar Sugar Mill Pvt Ltd, highlighting irregularities in the auction of Jarandeshwar Sahakari Sakhar Kharkana (SSK), Pune. The agency claimed that the bank held an auction in such a way that only Guru Commodity Services Pvt Ltd, a company owned by Omkar Developers, could clear the bid.

The agency further alleged that Guru Commodity participated in the auction only as a proxy for Jarandeshwar Sugar Mills Pvt Ltd, a firm belonging to a group in which Ajit Pawar and his wife were former directors. The property of Guru Commodity was used by Jarandeshwar Sugar Mills Pvt Ltd to obtain the loan of ₹826 crore.

“The sugar factory, which was started for the welfare of sugarcane farmers, was sold to real estate companies which have neither the expertise nor the interest in running sugar factories for the welfare of farmers,” says the ED chargesheet. “The property was given on lease to M/s Jarandeshwar Sugar Mill Pvt Ltd at a very negligible rate, leading to the conclusion that M/s Jarandeshwar Sugar Mill Pvt Ltd was in fact the owner of the property.”

Further investigation has revealed that Jarandeshwar SSK started operations in the year 1999-2000. The owners had taken loans from the MSC Bank, out of which ₹78.90 crore remained outstanding, on the basis of which its account was named as a non-performing asset. In July 2010, the entity was taken over by the Bank.

The bank sought its valuation from two firms, which valued it at ₹41.23 crore and ₹45.77 crore respectively. However, when Jarandeshwar SSK called for a valuation from a government-authorised valuer, he pegged its worth at ₹103.31 crore. The ED claimed that the bank put the firm on auction at a very undervalued base rate of 40 crore.

The ED also said that Yogesh Bagrecha, who is named as an accused, had claimed that the Omkar Group had purchased Guru Commodity in the year 2010 only to participate in the auction process of Jarandeshwar SSK. The auction was held on September 27, 2010, when Guru Commodity was declared the winning bidder.

The board of directors of MSC Bank passed a resolution and approved the sale of the sugar factory to Guru Commodity on October 12, 2010. After the company made the full payment on November 25, 2010, it was issued a sale certificate by the bank and on the same day, the factory was given on lease to Jarandeshwar Sugar Mills. The company is a fully owned subsidiary of Sparkling Soil Ltd, and the four companies that have a shareholding in Sparkling Soil are M/s Non Con Energy (I) Pvt Ltd, Firepower Marketing (I) Pvt Ltd, Shivraj Agro Estate Pvt Ltd and Sujay Agro Estate Pvt Ltd. In three of these companies, Ajit Pawar and his wife were former directors.

Further, as per the statement given by Babulal Verma, managing director of Omkar group, Guru Commodity had issued a No Objection to Jarandeshwar Sugar Mills to offer the factory as collateral to obtain loans from central cooperative banks. He further said that the firm obtained its first loan of ₹89 crore in 2010, the second loan of ₹172 crore in 2017, the third loan of ₹75.60 crore in June 2019 and the fourth loan of ₹36.15 crore in August 2019.