Bombay High Court grants bail to auditor in bank loan fraud case

The Bombay High Court has granted bail to Anita Kirdat, the concurrent auditor of the Punjab and Maharashtra Cooperative (PMC) Bank in connection with a multi-crore loan fraud case.

Kirdat, 48, a chartered accountant (CA) from Bhandup, who runs a firm, Anita Kirdat and Company, was arrested by the Economic Offence Wing of Mumbai Police in 2019 in the PMC Bank scam.

She served as the concurrent auditor of PMC Bank from 2005 to 2019. She was alleged to have been appointed at the behest of the main accused and former Managing Director of the bank, Joy Thomas, former chairman Waryam Singh and HDIL's directors Rakesh Wadhawan and his son Sarang Wadhawan.

Kirdat was alleged to have not observed any discrepancies in the financial affairs of the bank and shielded HDIL's NPA (non-performing assets) accounts from the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) scanner for a long period.

Her bail plea was argued by advocate Aniket Nikam, who said that her client was a woman who had been incarcerated for more than four years.

"Co-accused, Waryam Singh Kartar Singh, who is a prime accused, had been granted bail last month on grounds of his health condition and also of long incarceration, and the trial is unlikely to conclude soon," Nikam said.

He added that some statutory auditors too had been granted bail by the trial court.

Additional Public Prosecutor Sangeeta Shinde opposed the bail plea on the grounds that the accusation against Kirdat was serious.

"The accusation against Kirdat is of having not verified the bonafide financial position of the bank by following due diligence. The applicant had been functioning as an auditor between 2005 and 2019 and was closely associated with the then Managing Director accused, Joy Thomas, Waryam Singh, the chairman and Rakesh Wadhwan/Sarang Wadhwan of HDIL company. She has not complied with the prevailing parameters of conducting the concurrent audit and the same is not trustworthy," Shinde said.

However, the bench noted that the investigation in the case was complete.

"The chargesheet has been filed. Kirdat does not appear to be a flight risk. I am inclined to enlarge the applicant on bail but by imposing conditions. The trial is unlikely to conclude soon," Justice MS Karnik said while granting bail.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has filed a money laundering case to probe the alleged loan fraud in PMC Bank in October 2019 against HDIL, its promoters Rakesh Kumar Wadhawan and Sarang Wadhawan, its former chairman Waryam Singh and former managing director Joy Thomas for causing wrongful loss to the tune of Rs 4,355 crore to the bank and corresponding gain to themselves.