CBI files chargesheet against Yes Bank founder Rana Kapoor, daughter Roshni and Wadhawans

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

The agency’s chargesheet comes just before the 60-day deadline for filing a chargesheet from the date of arrest was to end. 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 whole family during the lockdown. Under the prevention of corruption act, CBI is supposed to file a chargesheet within 60 days of the arrest of an accused failing which the person is eligible for bail.

A senior CBI officer cited above said they will soon arrest Rana Kapoor and interrogate him. Wadhawans have already been questioned and are currently lodged in jail.

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The agency’s first chargesheet, officials said, focuses on criminal conspiracy by Rana Kapoor in the investment of Rs 3,700 crore by Yes Bank in short term debentures of DHFL between April and June 2018, for which Kapil Wadhawan paid a kickback of Rs 600 crore to the Kapoor family in the garb of a loan of Rs 600 crore. This amount was given by Wadhawan to M/s M/s DOIT Urban Ventures, a wholly owned subsidiary of RAB Enterprises in which Roshni Kapoor is a director.

This money (Rs 600 crore), CBI has found, was given to DOIT on the basis of a mortgage of a sub-standard property having very meager value and by considering the future conversion from agricultural land to the residential land. The DHFL never repaid the bank’s Rs 3700 crore neither the bank asked.

Subsequently, Yes Bank also sanctioned a loan of Rs 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.

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CBI suspects that over 100 shell companies were used by the Kapoor family for diverting their ill-gotten wealth. The officers hinted that this is the first of many chargesheets which will be filed against the fraudsters.

Kapoor’s lawyer Subhash Jadhav and Wadhawans’ lawyer Amit Desai refused to comment.

Rana Kapoor is first former MD-CEO of a private bank ever been chargesheeted by both CBI and Enforcement Directorate.

Earlier, while filing a chargesheet for money laundering against him on May 6, ED had claimed that Rana Kapoor used the Yes Bank as his “personal fiefdom” to carry out illegal activities and was the architect of a financial fraud aimed at creating wealth for himself and his family.

The 62-year-old former banker has been accused of “impropriety, illegality and rampant misuse of power” in what the anti-money laundering probe agency described as the hallmark of a scam that had been brewing for many years.

ED has claimed in its chargesheet that practices followed by the Yes Bank under Kapoor’s regime promoted a poor credit and compliance culture, centralization of power and lack of institutionalization, putting it in a situation where its survival came into question.