PMC Bank fraud case: Bombay HC grants bail to Vivo Group's auditor

The Bombay High Court has granted bail to Madan Chaturvedi chartered accountant of Vivo Group in connection with the Rs 4300crore PMC Bank alleged fraud case He was arrested on January 23 2021 and since then was in custody in the caseJustice CV Bhadang while granting bail on April 27 stated that the investigation of the applicant is complete The necessary seizure of the documents has been made and the two units have been attachedThus I do not find any justification to detain the applicant behind bar pending trial which may take some time for its conclusion he saidI find that the twin conditions in Section 451 are satisfied in this case In the circumstances of the case I do not find it necessary to make detailed reference to the cases cited at the risk of prolixity said Justice CV BhadangIn this case the Investigating Agency did not arrest Sarang Wadhaawan and as a result thereof Sarang Wadhawan could secure bail from the Special Court by order dated April 7 2022 the court notedSenior Advocate Aabad Ponda and Advocate Mayank Jain appeared for Madan Chaturvedi submitted in the court that the applicant who is a Chartered Accountant by profession was appointed as the professionalnon executive Director of Viva Home Finance Ltd in 2014 and Viva Finance and Investment Pvt Ltd in 2016 in order to meet the statutory requirements of National Housing Board NHB and the Reserve Bank of India RBIThey also submitted that the aforementioned companies have small business operations and are not part of the complaint filed by the ED It is submitted that the applicant is not involved in the daytoday management of the companies He is neither the employee nor the Auditor for Ms Viva Holdings He has no concern with Mehul Thakur or Mack Star or with the transaction of the alleged purchase of the two units by Ms Viva Holdings from Mack Star without payment of considerationAccording to the financial Probe agency a criminal case of money laundering was filed against HDIL its promoters Rakesh Kumar Wadhawan his son Sarang Wadhawan and others as part of its probe into the alleged loan fraud in Punjab and Maharashtra Cooperative PMC Bank It was alleged by the ED that the Wadhawans in connivance with Viva Group have diverted a huge amount from HDIL to many companies and entities belonging to Viva Group in the garb of commission The source of these funds from HDIL to Viva Group is apparently the illegal fund diversion from PMC Bank the ED has claimedThe present offence in the FIR is pertaining to the alleged conspiracy between the officials of Yes Bank and the officials of Ms HDIL and the misuse of loan by Ms HDIL loans given by Yes Bank between 2011 to 2016 and thereby defrauding the investorsThe gravamen of the allegations in the complaint is that two office units were transferred by registered sale agreements in favour of Ms Viva Holdings which is a partnership firm of Mehul Thakur for a consideration of Rs 3436 Crores for which post dated cheques were issued which were never presented for encashment by the Vendors Mack Star Marketing Pvt LtdAccording to the prosecution the applicant Madan Chaturvedi was engaged in the preparation and the auditing of the Books of Accounts of Viva Group of Companies including Ms Viva Holdings LtdHe was aware of the fraudulent transaction of transfer of the two units of Mack Star in the Kaledonia Building to Ms Viva Holdings without payment of considerationThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever