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The Supreme Court on Monday sought response from the CBI on a bail plea filed by former DHFL promoter Kapil Wadhawan in an alleged Rs 34,926 crore bank fraud case. A bench of Justices JK Maheshwari and Vijay Bishnoi issued notice to the agency and sought its response. The Delhi High Court on August 4 denied bail to Wadhawan, noting that his conduct during custody was "not beyond reproach". The high court denied the relief, saying such economic offences were not only crimes against specific victims but against the financial system at large. The CBI alleged Wadhawan, as promoter and CMD of DHFL, was the principal architect of a massive financial fraud involving diversion and misappropriation of approximately Rs 34,926 crore from a consortium of 17 banks. "It is noteworthy that the conduct of the applicant during custody has not been beyond reproach. The allegations regarding manipulation of valuable assets and transactions carried out during judicial custody are grave and suggest th
Markets regulator Sebi on Tuesday barred Dewan Housing Finance Ltd's former CMD Kapil Wadhawan, ex-director Dheeraj Wadhawan, and four others from the securities markets for up to five years for committing financial irregularities, diverting funds, and fabricating books. The others who have been prohibited by Sebi are -- Rakesh Wadhawan, who was non-executive chairman, Sarang Wadhawan, a former non-executive director, Harshil Mehta, joint managing director & CEO, and Santosh Sharma, a former CFO. Sebi also fined the six individuals Rs 120 crore. Kapil Wadhawan and Dheeraj Wadhawan have each been restrained from the securities markets for five years, while Rakesh Wadhawan and Sarang Wadhawan face a four-year ban, and Harshil Mehta and Santosh Sharma have been prohibited for three years, according to the Sebi order. During these periods, they cannot access the securities market, deal in securities in any manner, or hold any role such as director or key managerial personnel in ...
The Supreme Court on Tuesday cancelled bail granted to former DHFL promoter Dheeraj Wadhawan in the multi-crore bank loan scam case. A bench of Justices Sanjay Kumar and Satish Chandra Sharma passed the order after perusing the report filed by a medical board and directed Wadhawan to surrender within two weeks. The Delhi High Court on September 9, 2024 granted him bail on medical grounds saying Wadhawan fell within the parameters of a "sick person". The order came on an appeal filed by the CBI appeal against the high court order. Additional Solicitor General S V Raju, representing the agency, had earlier said said Wadhawan suffered from no serious medical ailments and huge amounts of money were siphoned off in the case. The Wadhawan brothers -- Kapil and Dheeraj-- were arrested in this case in July 2022. The agency filed a chargesheet in October 2022 following which a court took its cognisance. The FIR was registered on a complaint made by the Union Bank of India, which alleged
The Supreme Court on Friday asked the Delhi High Court to decide within two weeks the bail plea of Dewan Housing Finance Ltd's former promoter Kapil Wadhawan in the multi-crore bank fraud case investigated by the CBI. A bench of Justices Ujjal Bhuyan and Manmohan said Wadhawan was in custody since July, 2022 and his bail plea was coming up for hearing on July 18 in the high court. The bench asked the high court to decide the bail plea within two weeks from the date of hearing. Wadhawan moved the top court aggrieved by the orders of adjournment in his bail plea by the high court and sought an expeditious disposal of his petition. Senior advocate Siddharth Luthra, appearing for Kapil Wadhawan, referred to his client's long custody period aside from the non-adjudication on his bail plea on multiple occasions. The Wadhawan brothers -- Kapil and Dheeraj -- were arrested in this case on July 19, 2022. Dheeraj was granted interim bail by the high court on September 9, last year on medic
A special court here has declined to take cognisance of the CBI's supplementary chargesheet naming businessmen Vinod Goenka and Shahid Balwa as accused in the DHFL-Yes Bank fraud case, noting that allegations against them are not made out. The prosecution has claimed that between April and June 2018, Yes Bank invested about Rs 4,727 crore in the non-convertible debentures and Masala Bonds of Dewan Housing Finance Limited (DHFL) and sanctioned a Rs 750-crore term loan to a group company of the realtor. In return, Yes Bank's then-managing director and chief executive officer Rana Kapoor allegedly received kickbacks of Rs 600 crore from DHFL. Kapoor and DHFL promoters Kapil Wadhawan and his brother Dheeraj Wadhawan are among the several other accused in the case. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) recently filed its fourth supplementary chargesheet in the case before the special court. Besides Goenka and Balwa, the probe agency has named 12 more persons, taking the tally of the
The CBI has closed the case against the DHFL and its directors pertaining to 2.60 lakh allegedly fictitious home loan accounts, some of which were used to claim interest subsidies under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojna, officials said. After over three years of probe, the agency could not find evidence suggesting a criminal conspiracy which could have led to the creation of such accounts, they said. The irregularities were pointed out in the report of auditor Grant Thornton, appointed by the new board of the scam-hit Dewan Housing Finance Limited (DHFL), they said. The agency has now submitted its final report before a special court in Delhi, which would take a call on whether to accept the closure report or order further investigation into the matter. The CBI had booked promoters Kapil and Dheeraj Wadhawan along with the company. It was alleged that DHFL had opened a fictitious branch in Bandra and fake accounts worth Rs 14,046 crore of home-loan borrowers, who had already repaid th
The Supreme Court has directed the CBI to file its response on the bail plea filed by businessman Ajay Ramesh Nawandar in a Rs 34,615-crore bank fraud case involving Dewan Housing Finance Limited (DHFL). A bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Prasanna B Varale has extended the interim protection granted to Nawandar to remain in hospital till October 14. "In the meantime, the respondent is directed to get the petitioner's eyes tested from a senior consultant at the Dr Rajendra Prasad Centre for Ophthalmic Sciences, AIIMS, New Delhi, and submit a report before the court on the said date. "The respondent (CBI) will also file its counter-affidavit or obtain instructions as it may feel appropriate on the main petition seeking bail," the bench has said. The top court was hearing Nawandar's plea challenging a May 31 order of the Delhi High Court that dismissed his bail petition. The high court had noted that the CBI has taken a serious and consistent stand that the applicant is an influenti
The CBI has arrested former DHFL Director Dheeraj Wadhawan in connection with the alleged defrauding of a 17-member lender bank consortium to the tune of Rs 34,000 crore, officials said Tuesday. Wadhawan, arrested from Mumbai on Monday night, was produced before a special court here which remanded him in judicial custody on Tuesday, they said. The former director of DHFL and his brother Kapil were earlier arrested in the case in on July 19, 2022, they said. The agency had filed a charge sheet against 75 entities including Kapil and Dheeraj on October 15, 2022. They were granted "statutory" bail from the special court on December 3, 2022, on the grounds that the investigation was incomplete and the charge sheet filed was piecemeal. This order was upheld by the Delhi High Court as well. The CBI had challenged the order in the Supreme Court, which set aside the bail orders noting that the Special Court as well as the High Court "committed serious error of law" in disregarding the leg
Markets regulator Sebi has ordered the attachment of bank accounts as well as shares and mutual fund holdings of Dheeraj Wadhawan and Kapil Wadhawan, the former promoters of Dewan Housing Finance Corp Ltd (DHFL), to recover dues totalling over Rs 22 lakh. This came after the brothers failed to pay the fine imposed on them by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) in July last year in a case concerning the flouting of disclosure norms. In two separate attachment notices issued on Tuesday, the markets watchdog has ordered the attachment of bank, demat accounts, and mutual fund folios of the Wadhawans to recover the pending dues. The pending dues of Rs 10.6 lakh each from Wadhawans comprise the initial penalty amount, interest, and recovery cost, it added. In July 2023, the regulator imposed a penalty of Rs 10 lakh each on Wadhawans, who were promoters of DHFL (now known as Piramal Finance), for flouting disclosure norms. Kapil Wadhawan was the Chairman and MD of DHFL, whi
Capital markets regulator Sebi on Thursday sent demand notices to Dheeraj Wadhawan and Kapil Wadhawan, the former promoters of Dewan Housing Finance Corp Ltd (DHFL), asking them to pay Rs 10.6 lakh each in a case concerning flouting of disclosure norms. Also, the regulator has warned them of arrest and attachment of assets as well as bank accounts if they fail to make the payment within 15 days, according to two separate notices. The demand notices came after the Wadhawans failed to pay the fine imposed on them by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) in July 2023. The regulator imposed a fine of Rs 10 lakh each on Wadhawans, who were promoters of DHFL (now known as Piramal Finance), for flouting disclosure norms. Kapil Wadhawan was the Chairman and MD of DHFL, while Dheeraj Wadhawan is the brother of Kapil and was a non-executive director in the company. Both of them were on the board of DHFL. The order came after Sebi conducted an investigation into the transfer of .
The CBI on Tuesday assailed in the Supreme Court the statutory bail granted by courts below to former Dewan Housing Finance Corporation Limited (DHFL) promoters Kapil Wadhawan and his brother Dheeraj in connection with a multi-crore rupees bank loan scam case. A bench comprising Justices Bela M Trivedi and Satish Chandra Sharma was told by Additional Solicitor General (ASG) S V Raju, appearing for the CBI, that the charge sheet in the case was filed well within the 90 days statutory period and yet the statutory bail was granted to the accused. Under the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC), an accused becomes entitled for grant of statutory bail if the probe agency fails to file the charge sheet on conclusion of the investigation in a criminal case within 60 or 90 days period. In this case, the CBI filed the charge sheet on the 88th day after registration of the FIR and the trial court granted default bail to the accused and the Delhi High Court upheld the order, the law officer ...
The National Financial Reporting Authority (NFRA) has imposed penalties on 18 auditors and also debarred them for varying periods for lapses with respect to audits of various branches of housing finance company DHFL. Penalties totalling Rs 18 lakh or Rs 1 lakh each has been imposed on the auditors for their professional misconduct, according to 18 separate orders passed by the regulator. Also, they have been debarred for a period of six months to one year from "being appointed as an auditor or internal auditor or from undertaking any audit in respect of financial statements or internal audit of the functions and activities of any company or body corporate". Out of the 18 auditors, 4 have been debarred for 6 months and the remaining 14 auditors have been restrained for 1 year. Following media reports of alleged siphoning of public money of around Rs 31,000 crore and the Enforcement Directorate's reported action in April 2020 on an alleged banking fraud of about Rs 3,700 crore by the
Capital market regulator Sebi on Wednesday imposed penalties totalling Rs 6 crore on 15 entities, including Kapil Wadhawan and Dheeraj Wadhawan, for flouting disclosure norms in the case of Deewan Housing Finance Corp Ltd (DHFL). Wadhawans are the former promoters of DHFL. The fines need to be paid jointly and severally within 45 days, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) said in an order. In its 82-page order, Sebi said the promoters, including Kapil Wadhawan and Dheeraj Wadhawan, suppressed the names of three companies -- Hemisphere Infrastructure India, Galaxy Infraprojects and Developers, and Silicon First Realtors -- which were directly or indirectly being held by the promoters of DHFL. These three companies were shown as part of public shareholders instead of being part of the promoter and promoter group of DHFL. Sebi noted that the entities being promoter or promoter group and PACs (Persons Acting in Concert) having control over DHFL were under an obligation t