The NCP, which holds sway at Maharashtra State Cooperative Bank (MSCB) perhaps knew what was in store for the bank. Even before NABARD submitted a report to the state government damning the bank, five district central cooperative banks (DCCBs) withdrew their deposits amounting to Rs 3,305 crore. The list included the Pune DCCB, known to be the forte of deputy chief minister as well as state's finance minister Ajit Pawar. The other banks are from Ahmadnagar, Sangli, Satara and Kolhapur. The management in all these banks is dominated by NCP leaders.
DCCBs and urban cooperative banks normally park their funds to meet the statutory liquidity ratio (SLR) requirements and for other purposes. "There is no urgency of withdrawing SLR money in totality as done by these banks," say sources.
It was on the basis of this NABARD report the RBI finally ordered the state government to sack the board of directors. However, by withdrawing the money, the five banks were already safe.
Only a select few were privy to the report as well as the likely decision on the board of directors being superseded. Sources say the NCP got a whiff of the likely move and five of its key DCCBs withdrew the money parked here. They probably smelt a rat when inspection notices were issued to MSCB.
"The report was submitted to the state government on March 8 but withdrawals were already made. Even today the report remains to be a confidential document and the sudden decision to withdraw the money in lumpsum certainly raise eyebrows," said BJP MLA from Southwest Nagpur Devendra Fadnavis.
This matter came to the fore through a legislative assembly question (LAQ) raised by Fadnavis in which the withdrawal was confirmed. The government justified the move saying that the deposits had matured.
Even as a majority of the DCCBs in the state have the NCP dominance, these five banks are considered to be premium institutions in Maharashtra's cooperative fabric.
It seems that the banks knew that MSCB board would be sacked leading to a panic run by the individual depositors. Though these deposits constitute a small part of the total figure, a run can certainly lead to a larger cooperative crisis with the funds parked by the banks also under threat.
"The management seems to have showed financial prudence by acting on the insider information they received," alleges Fadnavis.