April 30: Gholap, who is alleged to have received kickbacks in the Awami Mercantile Cooperative Bank case, was questioned for two hours at the Economic Offences Wing (EoW) of the city police, who subsequently recorded his statement today. He later told mediapersons that the allegation that he received Rs 40 lakh as kickbacks for ordering the deposits of Rs 5 crore into the Awami Bank, was ``politically motivated.''He also told persistent presspersons that he had no idea of what his personal assistant, Anil Pagare, had been doing. Sources say Gholap told the police he had no part in the decision to deposit the funds of three state corporations in the Awami Bank as they were run independently and had managing directors to take such decisions.
The EoW has already filed a report in the metropolitan magistrate's court at Girgaon giving a break-up of the amount paid in kickbacks. They are relying on a letter written by Pagare to the MD of one of the corporations directing, on instructions from the minister,that a deposit be made in the Awami bank. The Bombay High Court also this week directed the EoW to file a status report on the investigations.
Copyright © 1999 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
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