The Enforcement Directorate on Saturday questioned Yes Bank founder Rana Kapoor for the second day in connection with the bank’s loans to the troubled Dewan Housing Finance Limited (DHFL). Searches were also conducted at the residences of his three daughters.
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The ED had questioned Mr. Kapoor till late in the night on Friday at his Worli residence over the bank’s association with DHFL.
“The need for further questioning was felt as there were a lot of unanswered questions and some new facts have also come to light, which need to be verified. We also need to corroborate out findings with documentary evidence, and hence accounts details of Mr. Kapoor, his wife and his daughters are being scrutinised,” an ED officer said.
Under the scanner
The bank first came under the scanner after it came to light that it had granted two loans collectively amounting to ₹3750 crore. One was given to DHFL and another to an entity called RKW developers, which was at the time headed by Kapil Wadhawan, a promotor of DHFL. Mr. Wadhawan was arrested by the ED in January this year.
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Sources said some information has also come to light indicating that kickbacks amounting to around ₹600 crore were paid to Mr. Kapoor, and that this money was credited to the accounts of his family members. The money trail is now being further verified by the ED.
The ED has been investigating alleged large-scale financial malpractices by the DHFL and several other parties connected to it. In 2019, the ED had found that the Uttar Pradesh Electricity Board had invested ₹2361.20 crore from its employees’ provident fund with DHFL, and the money was lost when DHFL ran into troubled waters.
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Additionally, DHFL is also under the scanner for its alleged association with deceased gangster Iqbal Mirchi.
DHFL is alleged to have granted ₹2,186 crore to Sunblink Real Estate Pvt Ltd., which bought three Mumbai based properties from Mirchi in 2010. The properties were allegedly bought by Mirchi using the proceeds of his gangland activities, and the transaction with Sunblink was said to be a money laundering operation.
