ED charges YES Bank co-founder Rana Kapoor

A charge sheet against YES Bank co-founder Rana Kapoor was placed by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) at the Special Court of Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) in Mumbai. 

The charges included kickbacks of more than Rs 5,500 crore, anomalies and discrepancies in distributing bank loans to corporate entities, extended credit facilities by misusing his official position, creating shell companies for laundering money, defaults, and creating tainted assets.

Other than Kapoor, the complaint, running into more than 10,000 pages, named his wife, Bindu along with their three daughters Rakhee, Roshini, and Radha; and three firms, Morgan Credits, RAB Enterprises (India), and Doit Urban Ventures, allegedly controlled by them.

 “Documents reveal some amounts have been diverted from YES Bank to these firms and used later to create illicit assets,” said a source privy to the charges.

The charge sheet has included the testimonies of at least 50 persons, including former YES Bank managing director Ravneet Gill.

According to it, Gill alleged Kapoor had influenced the credit decisions of Dewan Housing Finance in 2018, when he was head of the credit committee.

He said, Belief Realtor, an entity controlled by the DHFL promoter, was sanctioned a loan of Rs 750 crore by ignoring the bank’s standard process of valuation.

In the charge sheet, the agency is learnt to have given the details of about 170 bank accounts used to siphon off kickbacks. Further, it has explained the role of about 112 shell companies in India and abroad, created solely to launder money by the Kapoor family.

Giving a detailed analysis of each transaction, it said the accused persons salted away more than Rs 5,500 crore illegally.

So far, the agency has identified assets in India and abroad belonging to the Kapoor family. The properties overseas include two luxury hotels: one in New York (worth over $20 million) and one in London (£30 million): two residential apartments in London, valued at £15 million each, and a yacht in the UK.