The Enforcement Directorate on Monday questioned Yes Bank co-founder Rana Kapoor as part of a money laundering investigation against Reliance Anil Ambani group companies, officials said.
A special court here on Friday granted bail to Yes Bank co-founder Rana Kapoor in the Rs 466.51 crore bank fraud case, paving the way for him to walk out of jail after four years. The Enforcement Directorate (ED) arrested Kapoor in March 2020 in a money laundering case, and he has been booked in eight cases related to fraud at the bank.
A special PMLA court here on Wednesday granted bail to Yes Bank founder Rana Kapoor, businessman Gautam Thapar and seven others in a case pertaining to the sale of a property at a prime location in Delhi. Kapoor and Thapar, however, will not walk out of jail as they are in judicial custody in connection with some other cases. The present case pertains to allegations in the sale of a property situated on Amrita Shergill Marg in Delhi to a company owned by Rana Kapoor's wife, Bindu Kapoor, for which a separate FIR had been registered by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in Mumbai last year.
The Securities Appellate Tribunal (SAT) has granted an interim stay on a Sebi order that slapped a penalty of Rs 2 crore on Yes Bank's former MD Rana Kapoor in a case of mis-selling the private sector lender's AT1 bonds. Kapoor has been in jail since March 2020 in connection with the DHFL money laundering case. The interim relief came after capital markets regulator Sebi in July issued a demand notice to Kapoor, warning arrest and attachment of his assets over non-payment of the fine of Rs 2 crore, along with the interest.
'The book captures Rana Kapoor's hunger for real estate leading to bungalows in Delhi, Mumbai, London and other cities; the multiple companies -- over 100 -- to fund his family's various ventures; the attempt to game the system by showing lower non-performing assets,' notes Joydeep Ghosh.
Kapoor told the ED that he was told by the then petroleum minister Murli Deora that the refusal to buy the MF Husain painting will not only prevent him from building a relationship with the Gandhi family but also prevent him from getting the Padma Bhushan award.
It is alleged that Kapoor's family received kickbacks for Yes Bank's investment in DHFL's debentures.
CBI has alleged that Rana Kapoor entered into a criminal conspiracy with Kapil Wadhawan, DHFL director-promoter for round-tripping of funds where loans from Yes Bank to DHFL landed in companies owned by Kapoor's daughters, DoIT Urban Ventures.
Kapoor has told the Enforcement Directorate that he was 'forced' to buy the M F Husain painting from Priyanka Gandhi and the sale proceeds were utilised by the Gandhi family for the medical treatment of Congress president Sonia Gandhi in New York, according to the charge sheet filed by the federal anti-money laundering agency in a special court in Mumbai.
The CBI has filed a charge sheet against former Chief Executive and Managing Director of Yes Bank Rana Kapoor as well as Avantha Group promoter Gautam Thapar in the Rs 466.51 crore alleged fraud in the bank, officials said. Kapoor was not named a suspect in the FIR registered on June 2 last year in the case. His role, however, surfaced during the investigation, they said.
The Enforcement Directorate arrested Yes Bank founder Rana Kapoor under money-laundering charges in Mumbai in the early hours of Sunday, officials said. The banker was held under the provision of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) around 3 am as he was allegedly not cooperating in the probe, they said.
Kapoor was among the founding team of Yes Bank, along with Ashok Kapur who died in 2008.
Kapoor, 62, and the Wadhawans were arrested by the agency in this case early this year and they are in judicial custody at present.
The bank was worth over Rs 80,000 crore as recently as September 2017. The lender had grown at breakneck speed, helped perhaps by Rana Kapoor's reputation as a banker, willing to aggressively write checks.
The voting results were concluded on Sunday and will be sent to the exchanges on Monday morning. YES Bank could not be reached for comment.
The collection of mostly small and medium sized businesses is a hotchpotch of ventures and include design schools, schools, villas for hire in Goa and a country club in Gurgaon.
Markets regulator Sebi on Wednesday ordered attachment of bank accounts as well as share and mutual fund holdings of Rana Kapoor, former MD and CEO of Yes Bank, to recover dues of over Rs 1 crore. The decision has been taken after Kapoor failed to pay the fine imposed on him. Sebi, in September 2020, had levied a fine of Rs 1 crore on Kapoor for not making disclosures regarding a transaction of Morgan Credit, which was an unlisted promoter entity of Yes Bank.
DOIT is a 100 per cent subsidiary of Morgan Credits in which Rana Kapoor's daughters Radha, Roshini and Raakhe, are directors. In 2018-19, the company incurred a net loss of Rs 48.76 crore on revenues of Rs 59 crore - a sharp contrast to 2017-18 when it had profits of Rs 2.7 crore on revenues of Rs 43 crore. To fund these aggressive investments into its subsidiaries in 2018-19, DOIT used debt which doubled to Rs 600 crore in 2018-19 from the previous year.
The central probe agency that began action against the banker by raiding his upscale residence in south Mumbai on Friday is primarily investigating Kapoor, his wife and three daughters over a Rs 600 crore fund received by a firm allegedly "controlled" by them from an entity linked to the scam-hit Dewan Housing Finance Limited.
Kapoor is already facing an ED criminal case for receiving alleged kickbacks, through companies purportedly controlled by his family, for going slow on bad loans extended by his bank to some big corporate.
The bank has hired US-based advisory firm Korn Ferry to help with the selection process.
'What made him different was that he was not a banker at all by temperament.' 'He was a businessman, a typical lalaji at that.' 'He had to win at any cost.'
Schemes among the six wound up by the fund house had given a loan of Rs 518 crore against non-convertible debentures to the firm in March 2019, according to ED's chargesheet.
The meeting was amicable, a stark contrast to the meetings of earlier years that always ended with the rivals at loggerheads.
The central agency is probing Kapoor's role in connection with the disbursal of a loan to a corporate entity and the subsequent alleged kickbacks that were reportedly received in his wife's accounts.
The properties overseas include two luxury hotels - one in New York and one in London - two residential apartments in London valued at 15 million each, and a yacht stationed in the UK. In India, Kapoor's six bungalows in Delhi's upscale localities, including Jor Bagh, Hauz Khas, and Kautilya Marg, were also identified.
Kapoor and his associate entities owned 10.6 per cent in the bank at the end of June 2019.
The ED said that the investigation further revealed that there are 78 companies owned by the accused and his family members and it needed to probe whether the money went into these companies.
YES Bank said that it has not paid any bonus to Kapoor for FY17 and FY18. He drew a salary of Rs 6.48 crore for the ten months he served as MD & CEO, before his tenure ended in January.
Advocate Abbad Ponda, his lawyer, said a person with low immunity is easily susceptible to catching coronavirus.
Other than Kapoor, the complaint, running into more than 10,000 pages, named his wife, Bindu; three daughters Rakhee, Roshini, and Radha; and three firms, Morgan Credits, RAB Enterprises, and Doit Urban Ventures, allegedly controlled by them.
Isn't it time to review the 'fit and proper' criteria for banking licence, particularly with reference to individuals applying for it, asks Tamal Bandyopadhyay?
The Quorum in Mumbai aims to introduce and extend its blend of hospitality and philosophy of being community-led, content-driven, design-focused and experiential.
The RBI has cited corporate governance and regulatory issues for not extending Kapoor's term. Further, the lender has been directed to search for a successor.
Why is the RBI harsh on Paytm Payments Bank? Why did it give Rana Kapoor of Yes Bank Ltd such a long rope?Often, it's a long investigation process, but the RBI doesn't discuss this openly since that can threaten financial sector stability, explains Tamal Bandyopadhyay.
Reliance ADA Group chairman Anil Ambani on Monday appeared before the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in Mumbai and recorded his statement in connection with an investigation linked to the alleged contravention of the foreign exchange law, official sources said. Ambani, 64, deposed at the office of the federal agency in south Mumbai. Ambani's statement was recorded as part of a fresh case filed under various sections of the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA), the sources said without elaborating.
Tina Ambani, wife of Reliance ADA Group chairman Anil Ambani, on Tuesday appeared before the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in Mumbai for questioning and recording her statement in connection with an investigation linked to the alleged contravention of the foreign exchange law, official sources said. Anil Ambani had recorded his statement in the case on Monday under sections of the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) and he is expected to appear before the central agency again later this week for completion of the exercise.
Growing up in the Mumbai of 1970s, Uday Kotak aspired to be a cricketer and trained under legendary coach Ramakant Aachrekar. However, it was an on-field injury which resulted in a shift to finance. He started off with bill discounting, turned to lending and successfully applied to start a universal bank in the first decade of the millennium, as India was warming up to private play in banking.
In a dramatic turn of events in May 2019, an Emirates aircraft en-route to Dubai was asked to stop while it was taxiing for a take off in Mumbai. The pilot was given no reason and ordered to immediately return to the parking bay. As the aircraft returned to the terminal, two passengers from the first class - Naresh Goyal and his wife Anita - were offloaded by the immigration authorities, who said the duo cannot leave the country. Goyal, founder of Jet Airways, was stunned. The man, who ruled the aviation sector for two and a half decades with an iron hand, did not expect to be offloaded in this fashion.