Yes Bank co-founder Rana Kapoor and Dewan Housing Finance Limited promoters Kapil Wadhwan and Dheeraj Wadhawan laundered money worth Rs 5,050 crore through “suspicious transactions”, the Enforcement Directorate has alleged, PTI reported on Saturday.
“A big part of the proceeds of crime generated in this case has been siphoned off overseas by Kapoor, and so, the amount could not be attached directly under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act,” the agency said.
Yes Bank had bought debentures worth Rs 3,700 crore between April 2018 and June 2018 from Dewan Housing Finance Corporation, the Enforcement Directorate said.
A debenture is a type of investment issued by a business to raise money for its activities. It is accounted for as debt.
Around the same time, Dewan Housing Finance Corporation granted a Rs 600-crore loan to a company named DoIT Urban Ventures Private Limited, which is owned by Kapoor’s three daughters.
Yes Bank had used public money to buy debentures from Dewan Corporation, the central agency alleged, according to PTI. The loan granted to DoIT Urban Ventures Private Limited was mainly to “camouflage the entire act”.
It alleged that the firm owned by Kapoor’s daughters has no business activity.
“It has also come to light that just before the sanction of these loans, Yes Bank had invested in Dewan,” the Enforcement Directorate added. “This indicates a criminal conspiracy between Rana Kapoor and Kapil and Dheeraj Wadhawan to get a loan by pledging highly overvalued assets.”
Meanwhile, a Rs 750-crore loan was sanctioned by Yes Bank for developing the Bandra Reclamation Project in Mumbai. But, the project never started as the amount was laundered by the Wadhawans, the agency alleged.
“The entire amount of loan disbursed to Belief Realtors was siphoned off by the Wadhawans by way of layering through their shell companies and it was never used for the declared purpose,” the Enforcement Directorate said. “There is no doubt about the fact that Rana Kapoor has misused his official position to gain undue financial benefit for him and his family members.”
While Kapoor is in judicial custody since his arrest in March 2020, the Wadhawans are in jail in connection with another case against them.
In May 2021, the Enforcement Directorate had filed a chargesheet against Kapoor, his wife Bindi Kapoor and daughters Radha Kapoor and Roshni Kapoor.
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