Mumbai:
In an important ruling passed by the presiding officer
of debt Recovery Tribunal (DRT) I, Mumbai, Ketan Parekh,
Kiritkumar N Parekh and Kartik K Parekh and their 'group
of companies' have been ordered and directed to pay a
sum of Rs124 crore with interest now aggregating Rs207
crore to Bank of India with further interest.
The
DRT has overruled all the defences sought to be raised
by Ketan Parekh and others. The hearing of the suits were
expedited by DRAT, Mumbai, and confirmed by the Bombay
High Court and accordingly, matters were heard almost
on day-to-day basis. In fact, the High Court had taken
a very strong view of the frivolous applications filed
by Ketan Parekh and others from time to time as being
'only with a view to delay the trial in the DRT'.
The
High Court had on two occasions directed Ketan Parekh
to pay compensatory costs to Bank of India for such delaying
tactics. The DRT has also confirmed the 'orders of injunction'
on all the assets of Ketan Parekh, his family members
and 'group of companies' to continue in execution of decrees,
which debars them from dealing with their properties and
assets.
The 'payorder scam' had hit the country on March 8 and
9, 2001, when pay orders for Rs137 crore, issued by Madhavpura
Mercantile Co-operative Bank Ltd. in favour of Ketan Parekh
and his group of companies, were purchased by Bank of
India but
were dishonoured when presented for payment. This scam
led to revealations of further scams including the bank
drafts of Madhavpura Mercantile Co-operative Bank Ltd.
in Gujarat to the tune of Rs800 crore.
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