Jailed MD Joy Thomas tells EOW during questioning; bank depositors protest outside court
Bank customers, facing restrictions on withdrawal of funds, protest outside Esplanade court on Wednesday. Pic/Ashish Raje
Joy Thomas, former managing director of the PMC Bank has told the investigating officers that he was following the orders of the bank chairman and HDIL promoters, the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the Mumbai police said on Wednesday.
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The Esplanade magistrate's court on Wednesday extended the custody of HDIL promoters Rakesh and Sarang Wadhawan and Punjab & Maharashtra Co-operative Bank chairman Wariyam Singh till October 14. While Wadhawans were arrested last Thursday, Singh was taken into custody on Saturday.
The EOW, which is investigating the PMC bank fraud case, told the court that the three accused were not cooperating. "The accused are not revealing about their unkown benami properties, investments and lockers, the documents seized from PMC and HDIL HQs has lot of details but the accused are not cooperating in ascertaining the details of documents," an officer told the court.
They also informed the court that the preliminary inquiry has revealed that Wadhawans took a loan of R90 crore from the PMC Bank and diverted the amount to settle their outstanding dues with the Bank of India.
The EOW also found that Singh has lot of business investments in the US, made during the peak of this fraud. Involvement of his family members in the foreign investment needs to be verified. "Wariyam Singh not only played a vital role in this fraud, but he also kept shielding the fraud for a long period of time," the officer said.
No bail, only jail
Several depositors of the PMC Bank gathered outside the court yesterday, shouting slogans against the accused. Some of them even heckled advocate Amit Desai, who is representing the Wadhawans.
Holding placards with messages — 'No Bail, Only Jail' and 'PMC culprit — Beware — No Bail, Lammmbi Jail' — several bank customers, who are facing restrictions on withdrawal of funds, staged a protest outside the court.
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