NAGPUR: Sugar baron Ratnakar Gutte hit back against Leader of Opposition in legislative council Dhananjay Munde who had alleged that he had secured loans worth over Rs5,500 crore in the name of farmers.Calling it to be a fallout of political vendetta, Gutte said Munde could not interpret the details mentioned in documents filed with the registrar of cooperatives (RoC) properly. “Hence he arrived at a wrong figure,” said Gutte.He said Munde has been his adversary since a long time and they had a bitter dispute over a plot of land. Gutte said he had contested 2014 state elections against Munde’s brother-in-law Madhusudhan Kendre. A case has been filed against Kendre for hiding facts before the election commission by Gutte.On the loans taken in farmers’ names, Gutte said, “The amount comes to around Rs328 crore and the matter is already being probed by a court-monitored special investigative team (SIT). Since the matter is with the court, it would not be right to comment on the issue,” he said.Gutte further said that Munde also clubbed the old loans of Gangakhed Sugar and Energy Limited, a company promoted by him, to arrive at the figure of Rs5,500 crore. He explained that the company had a term loan of Rs655 crore for which other two group companies — Gangakhed Solar Power and Yogeshwari Hatcheries — had offered a collateral guarantee.“Since both the companies had issued a collateral guarantee, the amount of the loan appeared in their index of charges filed with the RoC. Munde has included the same amount as a liability of the two companies,” said Gutte.Gutte said now the same term loan has come down to Rs185 crore. If the cash credit (CC) limits, letter of credit (LC) and bank guarantees (BG) are counted, the total loans of Gangakhed Sugar comes to Rs361 crore as against Rs2,778 crore alleged by Munde.Munde had alleged that Sunil Hi-tech and other companies run by Gutte’s son Sunil had loans worth Rs2,653 crore. On this, Gutte said that Munde has also included CC, LC and BGs in the calculations. “As far as term loans are concerned, the entire group has a debt worth Rs125 crore. After calculating LC, CC and BG, it comes to Rs2150 crore,” he said.Gutte argued that CC and LC are working capital arrangements with a bank and cannot be treated as loans. Performance BGs have to be submitted in the normal course while taking up contracts.A chartered accountant TOI contacted said CCs to the extent drawn can be treated as loans and LCs have to be honoured in 90 days which also make a liability but not a performance guarantee.

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