Tag: Rana Kapoor

  • Was forced to buy MF Husain painting for Rs 2 crore from Gandhis: Rana Kapoor in ED chargesheet

    By PTI

    MUMBAI: Yes Bank co-founder Rana Kapoor has told the Enforcement Directorate that he was “forced” to buy an MF Husain painting from Congress’ Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and the sale proceeds were utilised by the Gandhi family for the medical treatment of Congress president Sonia Gandhi in New York, as per the chargesheet filed by the federal anti-money laundering agency in a special court here.

    Kapoor also told the ED that he was told by the then petroleum minister Murli Deora that the refusal to buy the MF Husain painting will not only prevent him from building a relationship with the Gandhi family but also prevent him from getting the ‘Padma Bhushan’ award.

    ALSO READ| Yes Bank-DHFL case: Rana Kapoor, Wadhawans laundered money worth Rs 5,050 crore, says ED

    The statements of Rana Kapoor are part of the second supplementary chargesheet (overall third) filed in the special court here recently against the Yes Bank co-founder, his family, Dewan Housing Finance Limited (DHFL) promoters Kapil and Dheeraj Wadhawan, and others in a money laundering case.

    Stating that he had paid a cheque of Rs 2 crore, Kapoor claimed that “Milind Deora (son of the late Murli Deora and former Congress MP) later conveyed to him confidentially that the sale proceeds were utilised by the Gandhi family for the medical treatment of Sonia Gandhi in New York”.

    Kapoor also told the ED that Ahmed Patel, a close confidante of Sonia Gandhi, had told him that by supporting the Gandhi family at an opportune time for medical treatment of Sonia Gandhi, I (Kapoor) had performed a good deed for the family and it would be duly considered for the ‘Padma Bhushan’ award.

    Murli Deora had tried to convince Rana Kapoor that the refusal to purchase the painting will also not permit him ever to build a relationship with the Gandhi family. It will also prevent him from getting the ‘Padma Bhushan award, as per the chargesheet.

    The late Deora had told Kapoor at dinner that the failure to purchase the painting could have “adverse repercussions” on him and Yes Bank, Kapoor has claimed in his statement to the ED. The banker is currently in judicial custody following his arrest in the case in March 2020. “First of all I wish to state that it was a forced sale for which I was never ready,” the chargesheet said about the painting Kapoor allegedly purchased from Priyanka Gandhi Vadra.

    Milind Deora had made several visits to his (Rana Kapoor’s) house and office to persuade him for purchasing an MF Husain painting from Priyanka Gandhi Vadra. “He had even made me several calls and messages also in this regard from multiple mobile numbers. In fact, I was very much reluctant to go for this deal and I had tried also to avoid this deal several times by ignoring his calls/messages and personal meetings,” Kapoor told the ED, as per the chargesheet.

    “Despite my best efforts to avoid this deal they were exceptionally persistent to finalise the deal rapidly,” Kapoor claimed. He further stated that later, in the year 2010, Murli Deora forced him to meet him for a vegetarian dinner (Marwari dinner) at his Lodhi Estate Bungalow in New Delhi.

    He was Petroleum Minister at that time and had been allotted this bungalow in that capacity, Kapoor said, as per the chargesheet.

    “During the meeting, the late Murli Deora told me in no uncertain terms that any further delay in purchasing the above-said painting could have adverse repercussions on me and my Yes Bank and it could jeopardise my relationship with the Deora family,” Kapoor said. “Simultaneously, he had tried to convince me that it will also not permit me ever to build me a relationship with the Gandhi family,” the banker added.

    Further, in the statement, Kapoor claimed, “He (Murli Deora) had also told me that any deviation on my part for the lack of closure of the deal will definitely prevent me from getting awarded the ‘Padma Bhushan’ for which, according to him, I was highly deserving at that time”.

    “Under this threat and against my family’s wishes, since we are not high-value Art Collectors, I could not afford to invite any form of enmity with the two powerful families involved and thus I had to hesitatingly proceed given the looming and overhanging threat involved,” Kapoor told ED, as per the chargesheet.

    Kapoor told the ED that formalities for closing the deal were held at Priyanka Gandhi Vadra’s office. “Milind Deora had actively coordinated this final closing meeting. I wish to state that for this deal, I had made a payment of Rs 2 crore through a cheque of my personal account in HSBC Bank,” he added.

    Kapoor said a few weeks after the deal, Milind Deora conveyed to him confidentially that the sale proceeds were utilized by the Gandhi family for the medical treatment of Sonia Gandhi in New York. “After a few months, while I (Kapoor) was visiting the residence of (late) Ahmed Patel, a close confidante of Sonia Gandhi, I was informed independently by him that by supporting the Gandhi family at an opportune time for medical treatment of Sonia Gandhi I had performed a good deed for the family and it would be duly considered for the ‘Padma Bhushan’ to me,” the chargesheet said.

    The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has alleged that Rana Kapoor and Dewan Housing Finance Limited (DHFL) promoters Kapil and Dheeraj Wadhawan had siphoned off funds worth Rs 5,050 crore through suspicious transactions.

    The ED had started its investigation after recording ECIR on March 3, 2020, and after the probe began, Rana Kapoor aggressively tried to dispose of his overseas properties to save them from being attachment by the ED under PMLA, the charge sheet said.

    The POC involved in this case is Rs 5,050 crore. While Rana Kapoor is the founder of the said company namely DUVPL, his three daughters are 100 per cent shareholders therein. Rana Kapoor is currently in judicial custody following his arrest in the case in March 2020.

    The Wadhwans too are in jail custody after their arrest in another case.

  • Bombay HC reserves orders on bail pleas of Yes Bank founder Rana Kapoor’s wife, daughters

    By PTI

    MUMBAI: The Bombay High Court on Thursday reserved the orders on bail applications of Yes Bank founder Rana Kapoor’s wife Bindu Kapoor and daughters Radha and Roshini Kapoor in an alleged corruption case involving housing finance company DHFL.

    They have challenged a special CBI court’s orders denying them bail.

    Justice Bharati Dangre is likely to pronounce the orders on September 28.

    The CBI court here last week rejected the three women’s bail pleas and remanded them in judicial custody till September 23.

    The applicants’ lawyers argued before the high court that accused are required to be arrested and remanded in custody only when there is a danger that they would abscond.

    Advocate Hiten Venegaokar, who appeared for the CBI, opposed the bail pleas.

    By remanding the applicants in judicial custody, the special court was securing their presence for trial, he contended.

    As per the CBI, Rana Kapoor — presently in jail in connection with a related case being probed by the Enforcement Directorate — entered into a criminal conspiracy with DHFL’s Kapil Wadhawan.

    Between April and June 2018, Yes Bank invested Rs 3,700 crore in short-term debentures of DHFL.

    In return, DHFL paid a kickback of Rs 900 crore to Kapoor in the form of loans to DoIT Urban Ventures, a firm controlled by Kapoor’s wife and daughters, the central agency alleged.

  • ED arrests Yes Bank co-founder Rana Kapoor in fresh money laundering case

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: The Enforcement Directorate has arrested Yes Bank co-promoter Rana Kapoor in a fresh money laundering case linked to an alleged Rs 4,300 crore fraud at the PMC Bank in Maharashtra, official sources said on Wednesday.

    Kapoor, 63, was already in judicial custody after he was arrested by the central probe agency in March last year in connection with alleged financial irregularities and purported kick backs paid to him and his family members in lieu of certain loans provided by the Yes Bank to a number of high-profile borrowers.

    In the latest case, sources said, Kapoor was placed under arrest in jail as per provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

    He was later produced before a special PMLA court that sent him to ED custody till January 30 in the second money laundering case filed against him, they said.

    The latest case pertains to the alleged loan fraud in the PMC Bank where the ED raided the premises of the Viva Group promoted by Maharashtra MLA and Bahujan Vikas Agadhi (BVA) party chief Hitendra Thakur in the Vasai-Virar areas of Palghar district and Mumbai last week.

    The central agency filed a criminal case of money laundering in October, 2019 to probe alleged loan fraud in the Punjab and Maharashtra Co-operative (PMC) Bank, against Housing Development Infrastructure Ltd (HDIL), its promoters Rakesh Kumar Wadhawan, his son Sarang Wadhawan, the bank’s former chairman Waryam Singh and ex-managing director Joy Thomas.

    It took cognisance of a Mumbai Police economic offences wing FIR that charged them with causing “wrongful loss, prima facie to the tune of Rs 4,355 crore to PMC Bank and corresponding gains to themselves”.

    The ED is probing the role of the Viva Group, Kapoor and the Wadhawans for allegedly “siphoning off” a Rs 200 crore loan sanctioned by the Yes Bank to a company called Mack Star Marketing Pvt Ltd.

    “This loan was siphoned by the Wadhawans by showing it for fictitious purpose,” it had said in a statement issued last week.

    “It was found that Wadhawans illegally and fraudulently transferred two commercial properties of Mack Star in Kaledonia building, Andheri East (Mumbai) valued at Rs 34. 36 crore to Viva Holding, a company of Viva Group,” the ED had claimed.

    For the transfer of these properties, it had said, two separate sale agreements were prepared on June 26, 2017 and the sale value for both the commercial properties was shown as Rs 34.36 crore.

    “In the sale agreements, the purchase amount was shown to be paid by 37 cheques by Viva Holding to Mack Star Marketing Pvt Ltd.

    Investigation has revealed that these cheques were never encashed in the account of Mack Star and Viva Holding never made payments for the purchase of the said property to Mack Star,” the ED alleged.

    It said the Wadhawans had “illegally transferred” these properties to Viva Group in violation of the article of association of Mack Star.

    “Viva Holding never showed these properties in its balance sheets,” it had said.

  • PMLA case: HC refuses bail to Yes Bank founder Rana Kapoor

    By PTI
    MUMBAI: The Bombay High Court on Monday refused to grant bail to Yes Bank founder Rana Kapoor, who is accused in a case of money laundering.

    Kapoor was arrested in March last year by the Enforcement Directorate (ED).

    The central agency is conducting an investigation against Kapoor, his wife, and their three daughters over a sum of Rs 600 crore received by a firm allegedly controlled by them from an entity linked to scam-hit Dewan Housing Finance Limited (DHFL).

    In July last year, a special court in Mumbai rejected Kapoor’s bail plea following which he approached the HC.

    READ| Yes Bank case: Rana Kapoor’s daughter Roshni gets bail

    Kapoor’s counsel Harish Salve on Monday told a single bench presided over by Justice P D Naik that Rs 600 crore was a loan received by their company and not a kickback.

    However, the ED’s counsel, Hiten Venegaonkar, opposed the bail plea and told the court that the said company was co-owned by Kapoor’s daughters.

    Kapoor was arrested by the ED under provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

    As per the ED, Kapoor, his family members and aides allegedly received benefits of Rs 4,300 crore through companies controlled by them as kickbacks for sanctioning huge loans.

    The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is also probing a related case.