Dozen shell firms, 44 costly paintings and Rs 2K cr investments of Rana Kapoor under ED scanner

The ED, officials said, is looking at finding the proceeds of crime during the raids conducted at Kapoor's residence and those of his wife Bindu and three daughters. It has stumbled upon investments worth over Rs 2,000 crore by the family and the active presence of about a dozen shell or dummy firms used to rotate alleged kick backs, they said.

New Delhi:Investments worth over Rs 2,000 crore, 44 expensive paintings and a dozen alleged shell firms are at the heart of ED's investigations against Yes Bank founder Rana Kapoor who was arrested by the agency on Sunday on money laundering charges, officials said.

The agency, official sources said, has also recovered documents that show some assets of the Kapoor family in London and the source of funds for their acquisition is now being investigated.

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 (DHFL).

The Kapoor's linked firm, DoIT Urban Ventures (India) Pvt Ltd, is alleged to have received the funds when Yes Bank had a exposure of more than Rs 3,000 crore loans to DHFL, already being probed for purported financial irregularities and diversion of funds.

The bank, they said, allegedly did not initiate action to recover the NPA-turned loans from DHFL and the agency suspects that the Rs 600 crore funds were part of alleged kick backs received as quid pro quo in the firm controlled by the Kapoor family.

The ED, officials said, is looking at finding the proceeds of crime during the raids conducted at Kapoor's residence and those of his wife Bindu and three daughters. It has stumbled upon investments worth over Rs 2,000 crore by the family and the active presence of about a dozen shell or dummy firms used to rotate alleged kick backs, they said.

It has also stumbled upon 44 expensive paintings purchased by the family, some of which were allegedly purchased from politicians.

Kapoor, 62, was arrested at the ED office in Ballard Estate in Mumbai under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) after over 20 hours of questioning and he will be produced before a holiday court on Sunday to obtain his further custody.

The ED, meanwhile, is also recording the statement of Kapoor's wife and daughters.

The arrest of Kapoor, former MD and CEO of the private bank, comes after charges of alleged financial irregularities and mismanagement in its operations surfaced and the RBI and Union government initiated action to control its affairs.

Govt taking strict action: Ravi Shankar Prasad

Union Law and Justice Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said that the government has initiated strict action regarding the Yes Bank issue.

Speaking to media, when asked about the Yes Bank crisis, Prasad said, "The government is taking strict action. The State Bank of India is moving in that direction."

Indiabulls Housing says Yes Bank owes it Rs 662 cr in form of bonds; no term loans outstanding

Indiabulls Housing Finance said Yes Bank owes Rs 662 crore in the form of bonds to the company and it has no term loans outstanding from the lender.

"We wish to inform that Yes Bank owes to Indiabulls Housing Finance Rs 662 crore via additional tier 1 (AT-1) bonds," it said in a regulatory filing.

The investments in AT-1 bonds of Yes Bank were made in 2017, as part of its treasury management of over Rs 20,000 crore of cash and when the bank was worth over USD 10 billion in value, it said.

"Indiabulls Housing Finance has no term loans outstanding from Yes Bank," it said.

Sameer Gehlaut, promoter of Indiabulls Housing Finance, or any of his companies or any of his family member companies have no loans outstanding from Yes Bank, the non-banking finance company said further.

Yes Bank crisis leaves travellers, students using forex cards in the lurch

Yes Bank being put under moratorium has put foreign travellers and students who used its prepaid forex cards in the lurch, with no transactions going through for the past three days.

Following the bank being put under moratorium and the restrictions thereof, the lender was unable to play its role to let UPI payments happen for popular apps like PhonePe which depended exclusively on the bank. The app was forced to switch to rival ICICI Bank within a day to restart transactions.

(PTI and ANI Report)