Sacked MMCB officials engage in mudslinging at JPC hearing

Our Economic Bureau

New Delhi, Jan 7: The sacked officials of the Madhavpura Mercantile Cooperative Bank (MMCB), while deposing before the joint parliamentary committee on Monday, blamed one another for extending undue favours to Ketan Parekh, the main accused in the multi-crore securities scam of last March.

While former chairman of MMCB Ramesh Nandlal Parikh maintained that as the bank chairman he confined his activities to policy matters and was not aware of loans being extended to the bull operator in excess of the prescribed limits, ex-managing director Devendra B Pandya said the former chairman was not only aware of what was happening but was also a party to all the decisions.

The MMCB had extended Rs 888 crore loan to the big bull and his companies, which was far in excess of the prescribed limit of Rs 205 crore. Mr Parekh, having suffered losses on the bourses failed to honour the commitments leaving the bank a deep financial crisis.

Another sacked official Jagdish B Pandya, who was branch manager at the Mandvi, Mumbai branch of the MCCB, told the JPC that both Mr Parikh and Mr Pandya had ordered him to extend loan to Mr Parekh and his companies and whatever he did was at the behest of these two top functionaries of the bank. The mud-slinging match continued to such an extent that JPC chairman SPM Tripathi had to warn them to tell the truth and not mislead the committee as the same could invite sever penalties. Mr Tripathi, later told the press that though it was apparent that the MMCB extended lot of favours to Mr Parekh, the sacked officials remained evasive and “did not gave correct answers.”