PMC Bank Fraud: Ex-MD Joy Thomas Became Junaid Khan for Second Marriage, say Reports

Moneylife Digital Team 14 October 2019

Joy Thomas, former managing director (MD) of Punjab and Maharashtra Cooperative (PMC) Bank converted to become Junaid Khan and married to his personal assistant (PA), whom he allegedly gifted some properties in Pune, say reports.

The former PMC Bank MD made an admission before the police that he led a double life with two families. "He had developed a relationship with his PA while he was married and had a family. Thus, Joy Thomas conveniently converted to Islam and became Junaid Khan to marry her, the police said. The woman in question quit her job in 2005 on the pretext of marriage and informed her office that she was moving to Dubai," says a report from The Times of India.

According to the report she shifted to Pune, and her husband, Joy, who became Junaid to marry her, started shuttling between the city and Mumbai. A police officer told the newspaper, "We are looking into how she bought the Pune properties. If we find that these were bought through the proceeds of crime, we will attach the properties, which are estimated to have a combined worth of Rs4 crore.”

IndiaToday report says, Mr Thomas purchased nine flats and a shop in Kondhwa and other areas of Pune since 2012. The 10 properties were purchased jointly by Joy Thomas and his second wife, who was his former assistant at the bank.

The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) investigating the case found that all the properties were bought starting 2012. "That is precisely when the accused Rakesh and Sarang Wadhawan of Housing Development and Infrastructure Ltd (HDIL) began the non-payment on loans and kept borrowing additional amounts from PMC Bank," the report says.

HDIL accounted for nearly 73% of the bank’s total loan book. Out of the Rs4,355.46 crore of loans under the scanner, around Rs2,145.78 crore were transferred to accounts held by the Wadhawans. An account belonging to Rakesh Kumar Wadhawan had a balance of Rs2,008.62 crore on 31 August 2019, a report from Hindustan Times says quoting the first information report (FIR).

Investigators, as per the report, say Mr Thomas had camouflaged HDIL’s 44 bad loan accounts, which had turned into non-performing assets (NPA), with nearly 21,000 fictitious accounts.

Joy Thomas's first wife had filed for a divorce and the case proceedings are in the final stages.

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