Yes Bank crisis: ED registers money laundering case against Rana Kapoor

The Enforcement Directorate on Friday registered a money laundering cases against the founder and former managing director of Yes Bank Ltd, Rana Kapoor.

"The ED is currently conducting searches at his Worli (Mumbai) based residence in connection with loans granted to DHFL (Dewan Housing Finance Ltd)," said an ED official confirming the developments.

This comes after the Reserve Bank of India on Thursday late evening put the private sector lender under moratorium and suspended the bank's board for 30 days. The RBI also capped withdrawal limit at ₹50,000 for the one-month period.

The moratorium came after Rana Kapoor-promoted bank failed to raise capital to address potential loan losses and in the wake of deteriorating financials of the bank.

The government on Friday also said that it has asked RBI to submit a detailed assessment report of any alleged financial irregularities which contributed to the bank's deteriorated condition.

The PMLA case by ED against Kapoor is a continuation of its investigations against DHFL where it has found fund diversion to the tune of ₹12,733 crore to 80 alleged shell entities using 1 lakh fake borrowers. These transactions date back to 2015.

"In some instances we found that the funds that were diverted by DHFL originated from Yes Bank. The searches are to ascertain the nature of these loans and whether there was any irregularity in granting them," said the ED official.

ED is also expected to issue a look out notice against Kapoor. The notice prevents individuals being probed by an investigative agency to leave the country.

The ED has accused the Kapil and Dheeraj Wadhawan of DHFL of purchasing shares of five firms-- Faith Realtors, Marvel Township, Abe Realty, Poseidon Realty and Random Realtors--after which they were amalgamated with Sunblink. The outstanding loans of these five firms, totalling around ₹2, 186 crore till July 2019, were allegedly appropriated onto the books of Sunblink in order to cover the diversion of loans acquired from DHFL.