IT News
Mumbai, March 8
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) interrogated Rana Kapoor, founder and former managing director of “Yes Bank” and also raided residences of his daughters- Rakhi Kapoor Tandon, Roshni Kapoor and Radha Kapoor, located in Mumbai and Delhi on Saturday.
The “Yes Bank” has been placed under moratorium till 3 rd April, its board of directors has been suspended and Prashant Kumar, ex-DMD and CFO of State Bank of India has been appointed as the administrator by Reserve Bank of India (RBI), on charges of financial mismanagement. The RBI has also limited cash withdrawals to Rs 50,000 for a month,The ED’s raids are a part of the ongoing investigation into the money laundering case concerning Dewan Housing Finance Corp Ltd (DHFL), under which the company siphoned off Rs 13,000 crore via 79 shell companies. The ED has also issued a look out notice againt Kapoor and his wife to prevent them from leaving the country, before investigation is over.
DHFL owners Dheeraj Wadhawan and Kapil Wadhawan allegedly purchased certain properties from underworld figure Dawood Ibrahim. YES Bank had extended massive loans to DHFL, which later turned bad loans. Rana’s family has been accused of receiving crores of rupees from DHFL. The money was allegedly transferred in the accounts linked to Kapoor’s family members, including his wife.
According to the latest developments in the investigation, between April and July 2018, DHFL gave a loan worth Rs 600 crore to Doit Urban Ventures, which was reportedly controlled by the Kapoor family. This loan was issued at a time when DHFL itself failed to pay back the debts it owned to YES Bank. YES Bank’s debt exposure in DHFL in terms of short-term debentures during this time period in 2018 was Rs 3,700 crore. At the same time, YES Bank had also given a loan worth Rs 750 crore to RKW Developers for a project near Mumbai’s Bandra Reclamation.
DHFL and RKW Developers are both under the ED scanner for financing a deal between Dheeraj Wadhawan and Kapil Wadhawan of DHFL and Dawood Ibrahim’s aide Iqbal Memon (Iqbal Mirchi), an alleged Indian drug trafficker who died on 14 August 2013 in London.
The agency came across this transaction during its probe into the DHFL promoters’ role in financing funds to gangster Iqbal Mirchi. The agency might also register a separate case against Kapoor. However, for a separate case, a police complaint has to be registered for predicate offence to probe the matter under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
As per the charge sheet filed by the Enforcement Directorate, PMC bank (shut down in Septmber2019) had also loaned Rs. 50 crore to HDIL before a Rs 6300 crore scam came to light.
In the meanwhile huge queues of account holders were seen in front on Yes Bank branches to withdraw money on Saturday.
