Two firms cheat banks of Rs 70 cr, CBI lodges cases, BFSI News, ET BFSI

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New Delhi, The Central Bureau of Investigation on Friday registered a case against two private firms and its officials for allegedly cheating banks to the tune of Rs 70 crore.

A CBI official said that case has been registered against a Hyderabad (Telangana) based private company, it’s two Directors, a Guarantor, a Nandyal based private firm and a person.

The official said that the private company based in Hyderabad, had in connivance with others, availed loans from Bank of Baroda, Banjara Hills Branch and later diverted the money for some other use and also for personal gains.

“The accused submitted false stock statements with the bank for concealing their irregularities, falsified their account book and willfully defaulted in repayments. By furnishing fake documents, the accused caused a loss of Rs 61 crore to the bank,” the official said.

The official said that after registering a case, they conducted raids at six different places at Hyderabad, Nandyal, Kurnool and were able to recover incriminating documents against the alleged accused.

Another case was registered against six accused, including three private companies, based in Hyderabad.

He said that the company had availed secured over draft facility of Rs 4 crore and LC of Rs 2 crore with a total limit of Rs 6 crore in 2016 for business purpose from the Union Bank of India.

It was further alleged that after availing the loan, the company committed default in its repayment.

It was a violation of the terms of loan agreement and it’s account slipped into Non-Performing Assets(NPA) in 2018. Later, the bank declared them fraud.

Later, it was found that borrowers had diverted and misappropriated the funds and also mortgaged disputed, unidentified property with an intention to cheat bank. Thus, they caused a loss of Rs 8 crore to the bank.

The CBI conducted raids at several locations and have recovered some evidence against the accused.



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Union Bank to CBI, BFSI News, ET BFSI

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The Union Bank of India has written to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to probe the promoters and erstwhile management of Dewan Housing Finance Corporation Ltd (DHFL) for allegedly causing a loss of Rs 40,623.36 crores (as on July 30, 2020) crores to the consortium of banks led by Union Bank of India.

In its complaint, the lead bank has affixed the findings of audit firm, KPMG engaged by the consortium which has prima facie found, “deviation of laid down norms and procedures, manipulation of accounts, concealments, undisclosed bank accounts and misrepresentation”.

While the CBI is probing the promoters: Kapil and Dheeraj Wadhawan in the Yes Bank scam, sources said even while prima facie there is a case of fraud of loss of public money, the federal agency cannot register a fresh FIR for the want of general consent which needs to be accord by the Maharashtra government. In August last year in the aftermath of the probe into the manipulation of television rating points (TRP), the state government withdrew consent to the agency accorded to the CBI under Section 6 of the Delhi Special Police Establishment Act. A general consent is a must for the CBI to register an offence in the state, in its
absence, the federal agency has to approach the state government on a case to case basis seeking permission to conduct investigation.

Maharashtra is not the only state to withdraw consent, claiming vendetta by the centre, even other non-NDA states mainly West Bengal, Chhattisgarh, Kerala, Rajasthan and Punjab in the last one year have withdrawn general consent.

“Communication and representation has been made to the state government but consent hasn’t been accorded. The loss caused to public money is over Rs 40,000 crores and prima facie there is fraud committed by the promoter and the erstwhile management which requires to be investigated thoroughly,” said a senior official privy to the development.

Union Bank of India was not immediately available for comment.

The special audit report prepared by KPMG against the erstwhile management has found DHFL disbursed loans and advances totalling to Rs19,754 crores to 35 entities with commonalities to DHFL promoter. “…of these 25 entities had reported minimal operations and were disbursed loans and issued ICDs amounting to Rs14.632”. This number reached to 66 in the subsequent report submitted by KPMG. “Various emails evidencing that DHFL promoters were in control of multiple entities to the extent of appointment of directors and auditors, having income tax notices, maintenance of secretarial records of various companies”.

It also found that loans and advances to the tune of Rs 25,595 crores were disbursed to 65 entities having various deficiencies such as borrowers had minimal operations, inadequate loan documentation, mortgage security valuation and others, states the report accessed by ET reads. The audit also observed that repayments of 169 entities of Rs 5,476 crores could not be traced in DHFL’s bank account statements.

It also found a “Bandra Book entity”, that maintained the details of non-existing retail loans using dummy names which were maintained in a separate accounting system and then transferred to main accounting software of DHFL called Synergy. Rs 14,095.08 crores stated as project finance was prima facie falsely stated as retail loans and 1.81,664 fictions retail loan accounts were created for the same, the report states.



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CBI books 7 for Rs 73 cr fraud at PNB, Indian Bank, BFSI News, ET BFSI

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New Delhi, The Central Bureau of Investigation has registered a case against seven accused, including private firms, for perpetrating a fraud at Punjab National Bank (PNB) and Allahabad Bank in credit facilities and term loans to the tune of nearly Rs 73 crore during 2013.

The accused were identified as S.R. Alcobev Pvt. Ltd, New Industrial Estate, Jagatpur, Cuttack, its Managing Director Ranjan Kumar Padhi and Director Saina Kar; Naina Devi Suppliers Pvt. Ltd, Sainagoue Street, Kolkata, West Bengal (Corporate Guarantor), Chandraghanta Iron and Steel Traders Pvt. Ltd., Shyam Bazar Street, Kolkata, West Bengal (Corporate Guarantor), Brewforce Technologies, East Patel Nagar, New Delhi or Dehradun, Uttarakhand (Supplier) and a civil contractor named Sukanta Kumar Lenka, a resident of Cuttack.

According to the CBI, there is involvement of unknown public servants of Punjab National Bank, among others.

“The accused committed a fraud at Punjab National Bank, main branch, Buxi Bazar, Cuttack and Allahabad Bank, Bhubaneswar branch, in a matter of credit facilities or term loans to the tune of around Rs 73 crore (Rs 40 crore by PNB and Rs 33 crore by Indian Bank, formerly Allahabad Bank) during 2013,” the probe agency said in a statement.

After disbursal of the loan proceeds, the borrowers and guarantors allegedly violated the terms and conditions of the sanction and they neither procured the machineries nor deposited the instalments in time and the account turned into a non-performing asset (NPA).

It was further alleged that the accused, including promoters, directors, guarantors and suppliers, had misappropriated and diverted the loan proceeds with the ulterior motive to defraud the banks to the tune of nearly Rs 140.48 crore (principal amount plus interest as on September 30, 2021).

The CBI conducted searches at the premises of the accused situated at Cuttack (Odisha) and Dehradun (Uttarakhand).

“Further probe is on,” it added.



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ED attaches Rs 42-cr assets of Kolkata company, BFSI News, ET BFSI

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Assets worth more than Rs 42 crore of a Kolkata-based company have been attached in connection with a money laundering probe linked to an alleged bank fraud case, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) said on Monday. A provisional order for attaching 11 properties of Shree Mahalaxmi Corporation Pvt Ltd has been issued under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

The total value of the assets, as per the ED, is Rs 42.36 crore.

The agency said its probe found that the loan amount of Rs 164 crore taken from the SBI was “diverted after rotating among the bank accounts maintained by various entities and colouring them as genuine business transactions”.

“It was found that various Letters of Credit (LCs) were opened in the name of certain companies against the credit facilities and the same were discounted on the basis of forged invoices, challans etc,” it alleged in a statement.

The LC proceeds, the ED said, were later laundered and siphoned off.

The money laundering case is based on a 2017 FIR and a chargesheet (filed in 2019) of the CBI against the company, its directors and some others “for defrauding the State Bank of India (SBI) to the extent of Rs 164 crore by availing loan on the basis of false/forged documents and utilising the said loan amount for purpose other than for which it was sanctioned”.



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Banks Board Bureau to soon start appointment process for MD, DMDs at NaBFID, BFSI News, ET BFSI

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The government had recently said that beginning October 2021, all pens would be taxed at 18%.

The finance ministry will soon start the process for the appointment of managing director (MD) and deputy managing directors (DMDs) of the newly set up Rs 20,000 crore development finance institution NaBFID, to catalyse investment in the fund-starved infrastructure sector.

Last month, the government appointed veteran banker KV Kamath as the chairperson of the National Bank for Financing Infrastructure and Development (NaBFID) for three years.

The finance ministry will soon intimate the Banks Board Bureau (BBB) about the appointment of MD and DMDs of NaBFID.The Bureau will issue advertisements and undertake a selection process, sources said.

The BBB is the headhunter for state-owned banks and financial institutions. The MD, DMDs and whole-time directors would not hold office after attaining the age of 65 years and 62 years respectively.

As per the National Bank for Financing Infrastructure and Development (NaBFID) Act, 2021, the institution would have one MD and not more than three DMDs.

The national infra bank

The government has committed a Rs 5,000-crore grant over and above Rs 20,000 crore equity capital. The central government will provide grants by the end of the first financial year. The government will also provide a guarantee at a concessional rate of up to 0.1 per cent for borrowing from multilateral institutions, sovereign wealth funds, and other foreign funds.

The development finance institution (DFI) has been established as a statutory body to address market failures that stem from the long-term, low margin and risky nature of infrastructure financing.

The DFI, therefore, has both developmental and financial objectives. To begin with, the institution will be 100 per cent government-owned.

It will help fund about 7,000 infra projects under the National Infrastructure Pipeline (NIP) which envisages an investment of Rs 111 lakh crore by 2024-25.

The DFI will remain outside the purview of CAG, CVC and CBI, a move aimed at enabling faster decision-making. The government expects the DFI to leverage this fund to raise up to Rs 3 lakh crore in the next few years.

Development finance institutions

During the pre-liberalised era, India had DFIs which were primarily engaged in the development of the industry. ICICI and IDBI, in their previous avatars, were DFIs. Even the country’s oldest financial institution IFCI Ltd functioned as a DFI.

In India, the first DFI was operationalised in 1948, with the setting up of the Industrial Finance Corporation of India (IFCI).

Subsequently, the Industrial Credit and Investment Corporation of India (ICICI) was set up with the backing of the World Bank in 1955. The Industrial Development Bank of India (IDBI) came into existence in 1964, to promote long-term financing for infrastructure projects and industry.



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CBI searches premises of ex-MP minister in connection with bank fraud case, BFSI News, ET BFSI

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The CBI conducted searches on Thursday at the premises of Surendra Patwa, a BJP MLA from Bhojpur near Bhopal, after booking him for alleged fraud of Rs 29.41 crore in the Bank of Baroda between 2014 and 2017, officials said.

Patwa was earlier a minister in the Madhya Pradesh government.

The case pertains to a loan of Rs 36 crore taken from the bank for Patwa’s car showroom in Indore — Patwa Automotive Private Limited — which was not repaid to the bank, the officials said.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has booked Patwa, a director in the company, and another director, Monika Patwa, they added.

Patwa is the nephew of former Madhya Pradesh chief minister Sunder Lal Patwa. He was also the tourism and culture minister of the state.

“It was alleged that the borrower company had committed fraud during the period of 2014 to 2017 in conspiracy with its directors and unknown public servants and cheated the Bank of Baroda to the tune of Rs 29.41 crore (approx.),” CBI Spokesperson RC Joshi said in a statement.

Searches were conducted at the premises of the accused in Bhopal and Indore, which led to the recovery of incriminating documents, he added.

The CBI has alleged that the firm was extended the working capital loan and a term loan amounting to Rs 36 crore by the Bank of Baroda on September 13, 2014, after taking over the credit facilities extended by the IDBI Bank.

“The said loan account became an NPA on May 2, 2017 and was subsequently reported as fraud to the RBI. The outstanding loan amount was Rs 29.41 crore. It was also alleged that the forensic accounting had revealed siphoning of funds and diversion of funds by the said private company,” Joshi said.

Patwa did not respond to a request seeking his comments on the development. PTI ABS RC



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CBI charge sheet against ex-Yes Bank managing director Rana Kapoor, wife in Rs 1,700-cr loan scam, BFSI News, ET BFSI

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The CBI has filed a charge sheet against former Yes Bank managing director and CEO Rana Kapoor, his wife Bindu and promoter of Avantha Group Company Gautam Thapar in connection with an alleged loan scam of over Rs 1,700 crore, officials said on Friday.

In the charge sheet filed before a special CBI court in Mumbai, the central probe agency has alleged that Kapoor abused his official position and acquired a 1.2-acre uber-luxe bungalow at 40 Amrita Shergill Marg at a very less price than the actual market value.

In its FIR, the CBI had alleged that the property was mortgaged to Yes Bank against a loan of Rs 400 crore by Avantha Group.

“It was also alleged that the actual value of the property was approximately Rs 550 crore which was acquired by then MD and CEO of Yes Bank at a value of around Rs 378 crore and the proceeds of the sale was not used fully to liquidate the existing loan, later declared NPA by the bank,” CBI spokesperson R C Joshi said.

The property was purchased allegedly in the name of a company Bliss Abode Pvt Ltd where Kapoor’s wife Bindu was one of the directors and authorised signatory.

“It was further alleged that against this favour, then MD and CEO (Kapoor) of Yes Bank Ltd. extended additional loan of approximately Rs 1360 crore to other companies of said promoter/director (Thapar) during and after the acquisition of the said property,” Joshi said.

The CBI said these loans were never utilised for the purpose for which they were given and the borrowers were allowed to divert the funds for evergreening of the existing loans of the group companies. PTI ABS NSD NSD



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HC rejects bail pleas of Rana Kapoor’s wife, daughters, BFSI News, ET BFSI

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The Bombay High Court Tuesday rejected bail pleas filed by jailed banker Rana Kapoor’s wife Bindu Kapoor and their daughters Roshini and Radha Kapoor Khanna in a case of alleged fraud caused to Yes Bank Ltd (YBL).

Kapoor is the cofounder of YBL who was arrested in the said matter in March, 2020.

Justice Bharati Dangre, after hearing all the parties had posted the matter today for the pronouncement of the order. The court gave an oral in the said matter.

The Kapoors, in three identical but separate bail pleas, challenged a special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court order that rejected their bail applications and remanded them to judicial custody.

The trio since then have been lodged at Byculla district jail in Mumbai.

As per the CBI, Rana Kapoor and his family members had allegedly received kickbacks of around Rs 600 crore for an investment of Rs 3,700 crore made by Yes Bank in DHFL’s debentures.

Counsels appearing for Bindu Kapoor and her two daughters argued that they have so far extended fullest cooperation to CBI and was not arrested during the investigation.

“On August 20, 2021, the trial court took cognizance of various non-bailable offences and summoned applicants to appear before it as an accused. The applicants immediately submitted to its jurisdiction by appearing personally on September 4, 2021, and moved a bail application in terms of Section 439 of CrPC,” argued counsel for the Bindu Kapoor.

However, special counsel Hiten Venegaonkar, appearing for the investigation agencies countered this argument and said that the CBI court had already considered all these submissions before rejecting the plea.

Senior Advocate Amit Desai appeared for Roshini Kapoor in the case, while Mahesh Jethmalani, senior advocate argued for Bindu Kapoor and Radha Kapoor Khanna in the case.

“The interest of the investigation agencies stand protected as the Enforcement Directorate (ED) has attached properties and bank accounts of the applicant to the tune of Rs 600 crore under various provisional attachment orders,” argued the petition filed by Radha Kapoor Khanna.

“Special Judge failed to consider that the applicant has been granted bail in the PMLA case arising out of the current FIR in the same facts and circumstances,” Khanna’s petition said.

The special court, while rejecting their bail petitions, had observed that the trio are involved in the wrongful loss of public money to the tune of Rs 4,000 crore, which belongs to the public at large, including bank depositors and shareholders.



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Former YES Bank chief ignored warnings of investment decisions from officials, chargesheet reveals, BFSI News, ET BFSI

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Former YES Bank managing director and chief executive officer Rana Kapoor ignored warnings fromt the treasury and risk management teams, which led to huge losses, the latest charge sheet by the Central Bureau of Investigation showed.

The charge sheet was made public last week, and was reviewed by The Hindustan Times. “Investigation revealed that Rana Kapoor had shown undue personal interest in aforesaid investment and took premeditated decision of investment without discussing the matter with concerned officials, who were having adverse view against such investments,” said the supplementary charge sheet filed by CBI on July 13.

The CBI and Enforcement Directorate (ED) are investigating the loans issued by YES Bank when Kapoor was its MD and CEO (till January 2019).

Furthermore, Kapoor had misled the board through a false declaration on May 17, 2018, to enhance the exposure limit of DHFL from Rs 2,100 crore to Rs 4,000 crore, the chargesheet said. As a result, the board approved investment of Rs 2,000 crores and Rs 700 crore in a public issue of non-convertible debentures of DHFL. This was despite the investment team advising against the issue.

According to the CBI, Kapoors were paid huge bribes by Dewan Housing Finance Corp (DHFL) in lieu of favours extended by the bank. It alleged that a total of Rs 600 crore was paid in the form of investment.

The ED has alleged that loans worth around Rs 30,000 crore, when Rana Kapoor headed the bank, have turned into bad loans and Rs 20,000 crore have become non-performing assets.

So far, the ED has attached assets worth Rs 2,400 crore in the case, which include Rs 900 crore from Kapoors and Rs 1,411 crore from DHFL’s Kapil and Dheeraj Wadhawan.



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Rana Kapoor’s wife, daughter get interim relief, BFSI News, ET BFSI

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A special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court Saturday granted interim bail to the wife and daughter of promoter of Yes Bank Ltd (YBL), Rana Kapoor who is jailed in the alleged fraud caused to the private bank.

While the CBI is probing him on corruption charges, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) is investigating him in multiple cases of alleged money laundering.

In August, this year, CBI filed its supplementary chargesheet against Kapoor, his family members and four former junior employees of the bank in connection with the corruption case registered with the CBI pertaining to the loans given to DHFL.. The accused were summoned and the hearing in the said matter was scheduled for today.

Advocate Vijay Aggarwal and Advocate Rinku Garg, filed a bulky regular bail applications for Bindu Kapoor and Radha Kapoor, running into around 250 pages. The prosecution sought time to reply to the plea. The court has adjourned the matter to September 8.

Advocate Aggarwal argued before the court that his clients were charge-sheeted by the CBI without arrest and that in view of the latest judgment passed by the Supreme Court of India just two days back in Aman Preet Singh v/s CBI, his clients deserved to be granted bail.

He further argued that the court had already exercised the discretion of issuing summons to his clients, which clearly shows no need for the arrest of his clients. He contended that his clients were granted regular bail in December, 2020 by a special PMLA court in the said matter, “…which clearly shows that there were no chances of his clients absconding or tampering with evidence. Bindu Kapoor is a housewife and that Radha Kapoor Khanna had two young children so his clients shall be duly available to attend the trial”.

CBI’s counsel stated that the bail applications filed were bulky in nature and sought time to reply to it.

The court, after granting interim bail to Bindu Kapoor and Radha Kapoor Khanna, has kept the matter for reply by September 8.

According to the CBI’s first chargesheet filed last year, in June 2018, Kapoor, then the head of Yes Bank’s management credit committee, sanctioned a loan of Rs 750 crore on an application by the DHFL promoters in the name of Belief Realtors Pvt Ltd. for development of a Bandra Reclamation Project. This amount was advanced to RKW Developers, a company controlled by Dheeraj Wadhwan although the bank’s risk management team had pointed out multiple and serious issues in the proposal.

The agency’s probe revealed that the loan of Rs 750 crore was not utilised for the stated purpose.

Simultaneously, Kapil Wadhawan is said to have paid a kickback of Rs 600 crore to Kapoor and his family members in the garb of a builder loan from DHFL to DOIT Urban Ventures (India) Private Ltd. (DUVPL). Roshini Kapoor is one of the directors of DUVPL.

After deducting a processing fee, an amount of Rs 632 crore was transferred to RKW Developers. This amount was then routed to other entities controlled by the Wadhawans – KYTA Advisors and RIP Developers – to settle a loan obtained from DHFL for the same Bandra Reclamation Project in November 2015.



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