The woes of YES Bank founder seem to not stop any time soon as the Central Bureau of Investigation(CBI) carried out searches at seven locations on Monday in connection with the alleged scam pertaining to the Rs 600 crore bribe to the family of Kapoor by scam-hit Dewan Housing Finance Corporation Ltd (DHFL).
Teams of CBI officers are carrying out operations at the residence and official premises of the accused in Mumbai, according to CBI officials.
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The investigative agency has alleged that Kapoor, 62, entered into a criminal conspiracy with Kapil Wadhawan, DHFL promoter, for extending financial assistance to DHFL through Yes Bank in return for kickbacks for him and his family members through companies held by them, officials said.
According to the FIR filled by CBI, the scam started taking shape between April and June, 2018 when Yes Bank invested Rs 3,700 crore in short-term debentures of the 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, said officials.
Earlier, on Sunday Rana Kapoor was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on money laundering charges and was sent to its custody till March 11 by a Mumbai court.
The arrest was made after hours of interrogation and searches at his and his daughters’ residences in Delhi and Mumbai. Kapoor was taken to the ED office in Mumbai for questioning on Saturday as well.
Earlier, the probe agency conducted raids at his house at Samudra Mahal residential tower in Mumbai and filed a case under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) against him.
He was presented in a Mumbai court where Sunil Gonsalves, representing the ED, said at the hour-long hearing that the total proceeds of the alleged crime amounted to Rs 4300 crore. He also told the court that Rana Kapoor refused to cooperate with the investigation.
Kapoor had dismissed the allegation. “I want to cooperate with them,” he told the court through tears. “I’m willing to cooperate day and night despite the fact that I haven’t slept a wink, ” Kapoor was quoted by NDTV as saying.
Zain Shroff, Rana Kapoor’s lawyer told the court that his client has been made ‘a scapegoat’ due to public outrage against the YES Bank.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) placed the bank under a moratorium and imposed limits on withdrawals.
Yes Bank had tried unsuccessfully for months to raise the capital it needs to stay above regulatory requirements. The RBI and SBI came to the rescue of Yes Bank as on Thursday, the RBI took control of Ye Bank and said it would work on a revival plan while the SBI on Saturday said it would invest funds to buy a 49 per cent stake in Yes Bank as part of initial phase of a rescue deal.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman last week had said that Yes Bank had granted loans to entities including bankrupt Dewan Housing and Finance Ltd.
The agency is primarily investigating Rana Kapoor, his wife, and three daughters in the case over a Rs 600 crore fund received by a firm which is allegedly controlled by the accused from an entity linked to scam-hit Dewan Housing Finance Limited (DHFL).
The Rana Kapoor-linked firm, DoIT Urban Ventures (India) Pvt Ltd, is alleged to have received the funds when Yes Bank had an exposure of more than Rs 3,000 crore loans to DHFL, already being probed for purported financial irregularities and diversion of funds.
The bank, they said, allegedly did not initiate action to recover the NPA-turned loans from DHFL and the agency suspects that the Rs 600 crore funds were part of alleged kickbacks received as quid pro quo in the firm controlled by the Kapoor family.
(With PTI inputs)