A special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court on Wednesday granted bail to Yes Bank founder Rana Kapoor in a case related to loss of over ₹300 crore to the bank.
Mr. Kapoor, however, won't be released from the Taloja Central Jail as he continues to be an accused in other cases. The bail conditions include providing a provisional surety of ₹5 lakh, not leaving the country and to attend court hearings when summoned.
The case pertains to the sale of property in New Delhi that belongs to Mr. Kapoor's wife, Bindu. Advocate for Mr. Kapoor contended that his client was not arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in this case and a prosecution complaint was filed without him in custody. Businessman Gautam Thapar, along with seven others, are also granted bail.
Mr. Kapoor was arrested on March 8, 2020 by the ED as he is alleged to have conspired with Kapil and Dheeraj Wadhawan of Dewan Housing Finance Limited (DHFL) and siphoned off ₹5050 crore from Yes Bank and received kickbacks of ₹600 crore in investing ₹2700 crore of debentures in DHFL.
Loans to various firms
As per the ED, he has disbursed loans to various firms for pecuniary gains. It is now investigating debentures and loans to the tune of ₹5402.1 crore that Yes Bank had given to DHFL, its group companies and Sumer Group. He was sent to judicial custody on March 20 after the ED told the court that it had found 19 new companies linked to him and his family which, they suspect, could have been used for laundering money. On July 21, 2020 the special PMLA court rejected Mr. Kapoor's bail on merits.
The ED's charge sheet, filed on May 6, 2020, mentioned that Mr. Kapoor, his wife and three daughters laundered money to the tune of around ₹5050 crore. For the debentures, Mr. Kapoor and his family members got a kickback of ₹600 crore from Kapil Wadhawan, promoter of DHFL, who paid the sum to DOIT Urban Ventures (India) Pvt. Ltd. under the garb of a loan for repayment of ₹300 crore loan taken earlier, and the rest for general purposes, the ED claimed.
