CBI books Rana Kapoor, Kapil Wadhawan for cheating and corruption

The CBI has booked Yes Bank co-founder Rana Kapoor, DoIT Urban Ventures, a company allegedly held by his family members, and DHFL promoter -director Kapil Wadhawan for alleged criminal conspiracy, cheating and corruption, sources said on Sunday.

The agency has alleged that Kapoor, 62, entered into a criminal conspiracy with Wadhawan for extending financial assistance to DHFL through Yes Bank in return for substantial undue benefits to himself and his family members through companies held by them, they said.

Kapoor was nabbed late last night by the Enforcement Directorate (ED), which had registered a Prevention of Money Laundering case on the basis of the CBI FIR registered on Saturday, they said.

According to the CBI FIR, the scam started taking shape between April to June, 2018 when Yes Bank invested Rs 3,700 crore in short-term debentures of the scam-hit Dewan Housing Finance Corporation Ltd (DHFL).

In return, Wadhawan allegedly "paid kickback of Rs 600 crore" to Kapoor and family members in the form of loan to DoIT Urban Ventures (India) Pvt Ltd, they said.

DoIT Urban Ventures is held by Kapoor's daughters --Roshini, Radha and Rakhee -- who are 100 per cent shareholders of the company through Mogran Credits Pvt Ltd, it alleged.

The loan of Rs 600 crore was sanctioned by DHFL to DoIT Urban Ventures (India) Pvt Ltd on the basis of mortgage of sub-standard properties having meagre value and by considering its future conversation from agricultural land to residential land, the agency has alleged.

It was further found that DHFL had not redeemed the amount of Rs 3,700 crore invested by Yes Bank in its debentures till date, it said.

In addition to the above, Yes Bank also sanctioned a loan of Rs 750 crore to RKW Developers Pvt Ltd whose Director is Dheeraj Wadhawan and is a DHFL group company for their Bandra reclamation project, which was transferred by it to DHFL without any investment in the project for which it was sanctioned, they said.

"Rana Kapoor obtained undue pecuniary advantage from DHFL in the matter of investment in the debentures of DHFL by Yes Bank, through the companies held by his wife and daughters," the FIR alleged.

The CBI had recently booked DHFL for siphoning of PF fund investments of Uttar Pradesh power sector employees in over Rs 2200 crore scam.

DHFL allegedly through layers of shell companies had siphoned off Rs 31,000 crore out of total bank loans of Rs 97,000 crore.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Thursday had imposed a moratorium on the capital-starved Yes Bank, capping withdrawals at Rs 50,000 per account, and superseded the board of the private sector lender with immediate effect.

Yes Bank will not be able to grant or renew any loan or advance, make any investment, incur any liability or agree to disburse any payment.

As per the RBI's draft reconstruction scheme, State Bank of India will pick up 49 per cent stake in the crisis-ridden Yes Bank under a government-approved bailout plan.