News Analysis India

Tag: Kapil Wadhawan

  • ED attaches Rs 578-crore worth UK assets of Wadhawan brothers

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Tuesday said it has attached assets worth Rs 578 crore of a UK-based company owned by former DHFL promoters Kapil Wadhawan and his brother Dheeraj in connection with the UPPCL money laundering probe against them and others.

    The attached properties “are in the form of investment made by the Wadhawans through WGC-UK in United Kingdom-based companies” and a provisional order has been issued under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

    The value of the assets GBP 57 million or Rs 578 crore, it said in a statement.

    The Wadhawan siblings are at present in jail in connection with the Yes Bank alleged loan fraud money laundering case.

    The latest ED case against the Wadhawans is based on an FIR filed by Lucknow Police against some officials of Uttar Pradesh Power Corporation Ltd (UPPCL) for “illegal investment” of general provident fund (GPF) and central provident fund (CPF) of the employees of the power company into Dewan Housing Finance Limited (DHFL) “in violation” of the government notification and directives.

    “DHFL in connivance with UPPCL officials had illegally received Rs 4,122.70 crore of GPF and CPF funds of UPPCL’s employees in fixed deposit in DHFL.”

    “Out of this total investment, Rs 2,267.90 crore of principal amount of provident fund (GPF+CPF) of UPPCL is still outstanding to be paid by DHFL,” the ED claimed.

    These “illegal investments” had been received by the DHFL during the period when DHFL was engaged into disbursement of high-value loans to its promoter related companies.

    “All such unsecured loans had been sanctioned as per the directions of the chairman of DHFL, Kapil Wadhawan and many of such loans have turned into NPA,” the agency alleged.

    Many of these loans, it said, have been siphoned off without utilising them for the purpose they were sanctioned for.

    “The proceeds of crime, amounting to more than Rs 1,000 crore, generated in this case has been siphoned off to UK by the Wadhawans by seven levels of layering and laundering through more than 30 beneficially owned /controlled Indian companies,” it said.

    Th agency had earlier attached properties worth Rs 1,412 crore of the Wadhawans in connection with a separate money laundering case investigation being conducted against them in the Yes Bank alleged loan fraud case.

    It had also seized 5 SUVs, valued at Rs 12.59 crore, owned by them in the Yes Bank case.

  • Yes Bank case: No bail for Wadhawans from metropolitan court

    By PTI
    MUMBAI: A Mumbai metropolitan court on Friday refused to grant bail to DHFL promoters Kapil Wadhawan and Dheeraj Wadhawan in connection with the Yes Bank fraud case being probed by the CBI.

    Advocate Pranav Badheka, appearing for the Wadhawans, confirmed that their bail had been rejected.

    The accused, in their plea, claimed no cheating case was made out as no loss had been caused to anybody.

    They further submitted that arguments of kickbacks or quid pro quo did not stand any longer as the charges under the Prevention of Corruption Act against main accused and Yes Bank founder Rana Kapoor had been dropped due to want of sanction.

    The Wadhawans submitted that there was no question of illegality as there were no kickbacks involved.

    A special CBI court, in July last year, had sent the case to the chief metropolitan magistrate’s court as the CBI didn’t obtain sanction to prosecute Kapoor under PCA, which was invoked by treating him as a ‘public servant’.

    The court, at the time, observed that, prima facie, cases are made out against all the accused under sections 420 (cheating), 409 (criminal breach of trust) of the IPC, which is triable by a metropolitan magistrate.

    Thus, the case was being tried by a magistrate court for offences under IPC sections.

    As per the CBI, DoIT Urban Ventures (India) Private Limited, a firm linked to the Kapoor family, received Rs 600 crore as funds when Yes Bank extended loans of over Rs 3,000 crore to the DHFL group.

    The probe agency also contended the bank did not make enough efforts to recover the loan, and that funds received by DoIT Ventures were kickbacks for going easy on loan recovery.

    The Enforcement Directorate (ED) is probing the money laundering angle in the scam.