Yes Bank case: CBI files charge sheet against Wadhawans, Kapoors

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Thursday filed a charge sheet against Yes Bank founder Rana Kapoor, his daughter Roshni Kapoor, and the promoters of

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Thursday filed a charge sheet against Yes Bank founder Rana Kapoor, his daughter Roshni Kapoor, and the promoters of Dewan Housing Finance Limited (DHFL) Kapil and Dheeraj Wadhawan, alleging that the Kapoors and the Wadhawans conspired to siphon off public money and benefit themselves, two officers familiar with the development said.

HT Image

The charge sheet comes just before the 60-day filing deadline from the date of arrest was to end. The Wadhawans were arrested by CBI on April 26 from a Mahabaleshwar government facility, after it was found that they had slipped out of Mumbai quietly with their family during the lockdown. They have already been questioned and are currently lodged in a jail in Mumbai.

A senior CBI officer cited above said they will soon arrest Rana and interrogate him.

The agency’s first charge sheet, the two officials said, focuses on an alleged criminal conspiracy by Rana Kapoor in the investment of ~3,700 crore by Yes Bank in short term debentures of DHFL between April and June 2018, for which Kapil Wadhawan allegedly paid a kickback of ~600 to the Kapoor family in the garb of a loan.

According to the agency, the money was given by Wadhawan to M/s DoIT Urban Ventures, a wholly owned subsidiary of RAB Enterprises, in which Roshni is a director. This money, the second officer said, was given on the basis of a mortgage of a property that has a much lower marker value by considering its future conversion from agricultural land to the residential land. DHFL never repaid the bank’s ~3,700 crore investment, and neither did the bank ask for it, the agency said in its charge sheet. Yes Bank also sanctioned a loan of ~750 crore to RKW Developers Pvt Ltd – a company belonging to Dheeraj Wadhawan for their Bandra reclamation project. The money reached the parent company DHFL without any investment in the said project, the officer added. CBI suspects that over 100 shell companies were used by the Kapoor family for diverting money, the first officer said. He added that this may be the first of the many charge sheets which will be filed in the case.

Kapoor’s lawyer Subhash Jadhav and the Wadhawans’ lawyer Amit Desai declined to comment. Rana has also been charged by the Enforcement Directorate for money laundering. While filing its charge sheet on May 6, ED said that Rana Kapoor used Yes Bank as his “personal fiefdom” to carry out alleged illegal activities and was the architect of a financial fraud to create wealth for himself and his family.