ED attaches Rs 70.39 cr assets of Kapil, Dheeraj Wadhawan in DHFL bank fraud case
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has provisionally attached assets worth Rs. 70.39 crore belonging to Kapil Wadhawan and Dheeraj Wadhawan in connection with the a bank fraud case involving DHFL. The attached assets include paintings and sculptures, watches, diamond jewellery, a stake in a helicopter, and two flats in Bandra.
The ED initiated an investigation on the basis of an FIR registered by the CBI against the Wadhawan brothers and others for cheating a consortium of 17 banks led by Union Bank of India (UBI) to the tune of Rs 34,615 crore. The ED investigation revealed that the Wadhawan brothers and other accused persons entered into a criminal conspiracy to cheat the consortium of banks and induced them to sanction huge loans aggregating to Rs 42,871.42 crore. The accused persons then siphoned off and misappropriated a significant portion of these funds by falsifying the books of DHFL and dishonestly defaulted on repayment of the loans, causing a wrongful loss of Rs 34,615 crore to the consortium lenders.
The ED had earlier attached properties worth Rs 1,412 crore of the Wadhawan brothers in the Yes Bank-DHFL fraud case and has arrested them. The ED has also seized high-end vehicles and attached properties worth Rs. 578 crore belonging to a company owned by the Wadhawans in the DHFL-UPPCL fraud case. The total attachment in this case now stands at Rs. 2095.94 crore. The ED investigation is still in progress.
It must be noted here that Piramal Group in 2021 acquired DHFL through a corporate insolvency resolution process.
The total consideration paid by the Piramal Group of Rs 34,250 crores at the completion of the acquisition, included an upfront cash component of Rs 14,700 crores and issuance of debt instruments of Rs 19,550 Crores (10-year NCDs at 6.75% p.a. on a half-yearly basis).
There were 70,000 creditors of DHFL and most of them recovered nearly 46% of their pending dues through the successful completion of resolution process.
Also Read: NCLT approves Piramal Group’s bid for DHFL
