DHFL loan fraud case: ED attaches assets worth ₹185.84 cr

The attached assets included 154 flats at a project in Kurla belonging to DHFL, and receivables or funds from 20 of the flats.

MUMBAI: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has provisionally attached immovable and movable assets worth ₹185.84 crore, including 154 flats in Mumbai, as part of its money-laundering investigation into the alleged ₹34,615-crore bank loan fraud case against Dewan Housing Finance Corporation Limited (DHFL), its promoters and others.

Mumbai, India - April 27, 2020: DHFL Promoters Kapil and Dheeraj Wadhawan accused in Yes bank fraud cases, have been taken into CBI Custody and has been produced in session court from CBI Headquarter BKC Bandra in Mumbai, India, on Monday, April 27, 2020. (Photo by Vijayanand Gupta/Hindustan Times) (Vijayanand Gupta/HT Photo)

The company, its promoters Kapil Wadhawan and Dheeraj Wadhawan, and others are accused of conspiring to cheat a consortium of 17 banks, led by the public-sector Union Bank of India (UBI), causing them a wrongful loss of ₹34,615 crore, according to ED officials.

The ED’s Mumbai unit attached assets, including 154 flats at a project in Kurla belonging to the company, and receivables or funds from 20 of the flats, on Friday, under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, officials said.

The agency initiated its investigation based on a case registered by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in June 2022 under various sections of the Indian Penal Code and the Prevention of Corruption Act. The case was registered against DHFL, Kapil Wadhawan, Dheeraj Wadhawan, and others for allegedly committing fraud and cheating the bank consortium.

In 2017-18, Kapil Wadhawan and Dheeraj Wadhawan allegedly conspired to divert DHFL funds through proxy companies and other methods for fraudulent trading in DHFL shares, said an ED official. “These trades, executed via brokers, were pre-arranged to rig the share price and volumes of the publicly listed DHFL stock,” the official added.

In October 2023, the ED had provisionally attached assets worth ₹70.39 crore, including paintings and sculptures worth ₹28.58 crore, high-end watches worth ₹5 crore, diamond jewellery worth ₹10.71 crore, a 20% stake in a helicopter, worth ₹9 crore, and two flats in Bandra worth ₹17.1 crore. The agency had filed its charge sheet in the case in a special Mumbai court in April this year. The total attachments in the case till date stand at ₹256.23 crore.

The massive financial fraud led to the Reserve Bank of India superseding DHFL’s board in November 2019 and initiating insolvency proceedings. In September 2021, Piramal Enterprises acquired DHFL for ₹34,250, which included a cash payment of ₹14,700 crore to the latter’s creditors as per a resolution plan drafted by the National Company Law Tribunal.