Two auditors held for PMC Bank irregularities

EOW to check if they got kickbacks for ignoring inconsistencies in the system

Two auditors held for PMC Bank irregularities

PMC Bank depositors at Azad Maidan. Picture courtesy/Suresh Karkera

The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of Mumbai Police has arrested two auditors in connection to the PMC bank fraud case, for deliberately overlooking the alleged irregularities involved in the bank’s functioning. The auditors have been identified as Jayesh Sanghani of Ashok and Jayesh Companies and Ketan Lakdawal of Lakadwala and Associates.

According to the Special Investigation Team (SIT) of EOW, the bank had appointed these audit firms, which were responsible for conducting routine audits as per the required procedure. Investigation and the provisional forensic audit report have revealed that these auditors allegedly overlooked the irregularities going on within the bank for the past few years.

Confirming the arrests, DCP EOW Shrikant Paropkari said, "The auditors will be produced in court tomorrow to get their custody for further investigation."

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"The arrests have been made based on evidence in the form of documents that points at how the auditors overlooked the irregularities. We are also checking whether they received some kickbacks for it," a senior officer said. The EOW, probing the alleged more than R4,000 crore PMC scam, has so far arrested seven accused in the matter.

Meanwhile, the Mumbai sessions court on Monday rejected the anticipatory bail application of two PMC directors, Sodhi Sirpalsingh Parmeet and Surjit Singh Narang. The investigating officer told the court that both played an important role in the scam and were well aware of the fraud and that the probe could not be completed without their custodial interrogation. The directors, through their counsel, said that they were not aware of the loan given to HDIL, as it was never brought before them.

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