Yes Bank crisis: ED summons Subhash Chandra, Thapar, Wadhawans

March 16, 2020
Mumbai: As the Yes Bank probe gathers momentum, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) has now summoned all the large borrowers who were given loans by the Rana Kapoor-led management.

An ED official related to the probe told IANS: “The agency has summoned all the top borrowers of the Yes Bank from March 17 to March 21.”

The official said that the Wadhawanas of the Dewan Housing Finance Ltd (DHFL) have been summoned on Tuesday, former Jet Airways chairman Naresh Goyal and Essel Group’s Subhash Chandra on March 18, Reliance Group Chairman Anil Ambani and Peter Kerkar of Cox & Kings on March 19, Sameer Gehlot of IndiaBulls on March 20 and Avantha Realty promoter Gautam Thapar on March 21.

The official said that the agency was looking into all the big borrowers of the bank and the stressed loans sanctioned during the tenure of Rana Kapoor.

IANS was first to report on Monday morning that the ED was all set to summon all the top borrowers of the bank for questioning in connection with its money laundering probe into the Yes Bank case.

Among the largest borrowers are Ambani from whom information, including loan details, terms and conditions and side agreements have been sought ahead of his appearance.

The official said that in the coming days, the ED is also set to summon entities like Vodafone Idea, IL&FS, CG Power among others.

Earlier this month, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had said: “The exposure of Yes Bank to some of the very stressed corporates has been before 2014. These are public domain names and I am not violating any customer privacy… Anil Ambani (Group), Essel Group, DHFL, IL&FS (and) Vodafone are some of the very stressed corporates to whom Yes Bank has been exposed.”

Reliance Group said last week that it had no direct or indirect exposure to the Kapoor family. “The entire exposure to Yes Bank is fully secured and is transacted in the ordinary course of business, and we are committed to honour our repayments to Yes Bank,” said the company.

Sources close to developments revealed that many top businessmen and industrialists who had exposure to Yes Bank will be called for questioning namely bosses of Essel Group, Vodafone Idea, DHFL Group, Omkar Realtors, IL & FS Radius Developers, Jet Airways, Cox & Kings, CG Power, and McLeod Russel, et al. It is believed that GMR and GVK Group also may have exposure to the bank.

The ED official further added that most of the big borrowers have defaulted and the loans have turned into bad debts. “The management and promoters will be examined and questioned in the coming weeks,” said the official.

The CBI and ED began a probe into short-term debentures of the DHFL in which Yes Bank invested Rs 3,700 crore from April to June 2018.

The probe is part of another investigation pertaining to Yes Bank’s purchase of debentures from DHFL against which the company was granted loans totalling Rs 600 crore against a collateral security of around Rs 40 crore only.

The loan amount later turned into non-performing asset. It was alleged that DHFL’s promoter Kapil Wadhawan simultaneously paid kickbacks totalling Rs 600 crore to the Kapoors in the form of a loan of a similar amount to DoIT Urban Ventures, a venture owned by Rana Kapoor’s daughters — Rakhee Kapoor Tandon, Roshni Kapoor and Radha Kapoor.

It was also alleged that Yes Bank did not initiate action to recover the loans extended to DHFL. The ED arrested Rana Kapoor on March 8 morning after several hours of questioning and he was been sent to ED custody till March 20.

One of Rana Kapoor’s daughters was stopped from boarding a flight to London by Immigration Department officials at Mumbai airport.

The CBI on Friday registered a fresh case against Rana Kapoor, his wife Bindu Kapoor and Avantha Realty Promoter Gautam Thapar in a fresh case involving the crisis-hit bank. IANS