MSCB scam: Won’t bow down before Delhi, will visit ED on September 27, says Sharad Pawar

Stressing that he would cooperate with the investigation agency, NCP chief Sharan Pawar said he would go to the ED office at 2 pm on Friday to assist in the MSCB scam probe.

Nationalist Congress President (NCP) president Sharad Pawar on Wednesday said that he would himself visit the Enforcement Directorate (ED) office on Friday (September 27) in connection with the case filed by the central probe agency for his alleged involvement in 25,000 crore Maharashtra State Co-operative Bank (MSCB) scam.

Stressing that he would cooperate with the investigation agency, Pawar said he would go to the ED office at 2 pm on Friday to assist in the probe. “I will myself go to the Enforcement Directorate on September 27 to give all information what I have with me about this case,” Pawar said at a press conference.

Pawar said that I have never been involved in the activity of any bank and ED is free to probe me in MSCB scam case. The NCP chief added that he has full faith in Constitution of India and will give his full cooperation to the ED.

"I will out of Mumbai in the coming days due to campaigning for Assembly election and I would request the ED that it should think that I am unwilling to appear before them for probe," Pawar said. The NCP supremo said that people of Maharashtra always follow the ideology of Chattrapati Shivaji Maharaj and being a follower of Shivaji Maharaj, it is not my culture to bow before Delhi (Centre).

On Tuesday (September 24), Pawar had said he would "welcome" and "enjoy" the jail if he is sent behind bars in the money laundering case filed by the ED against him. "I have no problem if I am sent to jail. I will enjoy it instead as I have never experienced it. If someone is thinking to put me behind bars in this case, I will rather welcome it," Pawar said.

The ED on Tuesday booked Pawar, his nephew and former Maharashtra deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar and others in the Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR) in connection with the MSCB scam case. The ED launched the probe in the MSCB scam after an FIR was filed by Mumbai Police on the directions of the Bombay High Court.