Sugar scam -- Trader, bank official booked for fraud

Sugar scam -- Trader, bank official booked for fraud
EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE

NASHIK, JAN 12: In the first ever criminal case registered in the multi-crore sugar scandal, the Panchavati police station has registered offences against four persons, including a bank official.

Following a complaint from the Nashik Merchants' Cooperative Bank (NAMCO Bank), the police has booked sugar trader Paresh Thakkar, Jagdish Thakkar, Dinesh Thakkar and the manager of the Panchavati branch of NAMCO bank, Suresh Dattatraya Joshi.

They have been booked under Sections 420, 409 and 120 (b) of the IPC. According to the FIR, which was launched after a decision of the board of directors of the NAMCO bank, the accused had defrauded the bank to the tune of Rs 2.69 crore.

The branch manager has been accused of making payments instantly against 12 cheques even before they were cleared. The manager had been sent on leave and later suspended for the irregularities.

The irregularities involving sugar traders and banks had come to light last week when sugar traders were raided by Income Tax officials. After the accounts of Paresh Thakkar were frozen, eight banks in Nashik were indirectly affected. The banks together had paid about Rs 22 crore to Thakkar against uncleared cheques and could not receive the amount as Thakkar's bank accounts were sealed.

The banks, including the State Bank of Hyderabad, the Janalaxmi Cooperative Bank, the Nashik Merchant Cooperative Bank, the Godavari Coopertive Bank, the Sinnar Vyapari Bank and the Ganesh Coopertive Bank, with whom Thakkar was dealing, are still in a fix.

After the IT raids, which unearthed unaccounted money to the tune of Rs 17 crore, Thakkar took ill and was hospitalised for cardiac problems. According to officials, Thakkar used to act as a middleman between sugar mills of the cooperative sector and wholesale sugar traders.

In the process, the transactions worth crores of rupees used to be carried out without following due procedures. Thakkar's firm, "Thakkar and Sons" used to transact the business after buying sugar from the mills. In the process, Thakkar had earned the "goodwill" of banks, sugar mills and traders. On some occasions he was given the facility of withdrawing large amounts of money even before cheques deposited by him were cleared. The deputy director of cooperatives is also investigating the case.