Munde: Sugar firm dupes farmers, banks of Rs 5.5K
leader of the Opposition in the Maharashtra legislative Council Dhananjay Munde on Tuesday dropped a bomb shell in the Maharashtra legislative Council by alleging that Chairman of Gangakhed sugar co-operative factory in Parbhani district Ratnakar Gatte has duped nearly 26,000 farmers and banks to the tune of Rs 5,500 crore by diverting money from his firm to 26 bogus companies.
Raising the issue in the Upper House of the State legislature in Nagpur under the house rule no 289, Munde charged that a majority 22 companies that had been registered by Gatte and his family members who have the largest stake the sugar mill, were merely on paper. “These companies are nothing but shell companies,” he said.
Pegging loan scam indulged in by the Gangakhed-based co-operative sugar mill run by Gatte and his family at Rs 5,500 crore, Munde said, “The sugar mill management headed by Gatte had in 2015 obtained huge loans on behalf of 600 sugarcane growers from bank under its harvest and transport scheme. The mill management has diverted all the money taken by way of loans to its bogus companies”.
“With the sugar mill management failing to repay the loans, the bank management had served notices on farmers seeking repayment of money ranging Rs 20 t0 25 lakh towards the recovery of loans which in the first place had not been taken by farmers. Even in the past, the same mill management had taken crop loans on behalf of farmers which it has not repaid so far,” Munde said.
Describing Gatte as a “Chhota Nirav Modi” of Maharashtra, Munde demanded that Gatte be arrested immediately. He said that the state government treat the Gangakhed sugar mill case be treated like the Rs 2,043 crore DSK group loan scam.
“On July 5 last year the local police registered offences against Gatte under sections 120 B (criminal conspiracy), 406 (criminal breach of trust), 409 (Criminal breach of trust by public servant, banker, merchant or agent), 420 (cheating), 467, 468 (forgery) and other relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code and the Prevention of Corruption Act…However, Gatte has not been arrested so far,” the leader of the Opposition said.
Munde said the transactions involving Gatte and his family members had been carried without requisite permissions from the Reserve Bank of India. Earlier this month, Munde had demanded an inquiry by the CBI and Enforcement Directorate into the alleged irregularities by Gatte.