A local court on Sunday remanded Waryam Singh, former chairman of Punjab and Maharashtra Cooperative (PMC) Bank, arrested in connection with the alleged ₹4,355 crore scam at the bank, in police custody till October 9.
Mr. Singh (68), arrested by the Economic Offences Wing of the Mumbai Police on Saturday from Mahim Church area, is the fourth person in police custody in connection with the case.
The EOW has already arrested former managing director of the bank Joy Thomas, and promoters of Housing Development and Infrastructure Limited (HDIL) group Rakesh and Sarang Wadhawan.
Mr. Singh’s lawyer told the court on Sunday that Mr. Thomas as the MD of PMC Bank was responsible for the scam and that his client had no role in sanctioning loans to HDIL. The lawyer also told the court that there was no conflict of interest in Mr. Singh being a director of HDIL, contending that the offence came to light later.
According to the FIR registered by the EOW, HDIL group promoters colluded with the bank management to take loans from its Bhandup branch. Despite non-payment, bank officials allegedly did not classify these loans as non-performing advances, and hid the information from the Reserve Bank of India.
