CBI Books DHFL's Kapil, Dheeraj Wadhawan In Rs 34,615-Crore Bank Fraud Case

A CBI team carried out coordinated searches at 15 locations in Mumbai belonging to listed accused in the FIR which also includes Sudhakar Shetty of Amaryllis Realtors and eight other builders.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has booked Dewan Housing Finance Ltd’s (DHFL’s) former CMD Kapil Wadhawan, director Dheeraj Wadhawan, and others in a fresh case involving Rs 34,615 crore, thus making it the biggest bank fraud probed by the agency, the PTI reported on Wednesday.

After the case was registered, a team of over 150 CBI officials carried out coordinated searches at more than 15 locations in Mumbai belonging to listed accused in the FIR which also includes Sudhakar Shetty of Amaryllis Realtors and eight other builders. The central probing agency started the raid at 10 am in the morning at all the locations.

According to the report, a consortium of lenders comprising 17 banks has alleged that the company had availed credit facility to the tune of Rs 42,871 crore between 2010 and 2018 from the consortium under various arrangements. However, they started defaulting on commitments of repayment from May, 2019 onwards, the CBI said. The accounts were declared non-performing assets (NPAs) at different points of time by lender banks, they said.

When a probe was started against DHFL in January 2019 after media reports on allegations of fraud by diversion of funds, round tripping, and siphoning of funds surfaced, the lenders held a meeting on February 1, 2019.

The members appointed KPMG to conduct a special review audit of DHFL from April 1, 2015 to December 31, 2018.

The lenders, which moved to get a Look Out Cirular (LOC) issued against Kapil and Dheeraj Wadhawan on October 18, 2019 to prevent them from leaving the country, have alleged that KPMG in its audit red flagged diversion of funds in the garb of loans and advances to related and interconnected entities and individuals.

The report found that 66 entities having commonalities with DHFL promoters were disbursed Rs 29,100.33 crore against which Rs 29,849 crore remained outstanding.

"Most of the transactions of such entities and individuals were in the nature of investments in land and properties," the banks alleged.

The audit indicated significant financial irregularities, diversion of funds, fabrication of books, round tripping of funds to created assets for Kapil and Dheeraj Wadhawan.