Criminal breach of trust case registered against ex-Yes Bank CEO Rana Kapoor, others

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Mumbai: Mumbai Police have registered an FIR against former Yes Bank MD and CEO Rana Kapoor and others for alleged illegal transfer of mortgaged property worth Rs 1,000 crore, an official said on Friday.

The bank transferred a loan of Rs 150 crore to an asset reconstruction company without classifying it as a Non-Performing Asset, the complainant alleged.
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The First Information Report was registered at Worli police station against Kapoor, Sudhir Walia, and other bank officials on a complaint filed by Lakhminder Dayal Singh, associated with Saffair Land Development, a sister concern of HDIL.

As per the FIR, another HDIL group company, Privilege Power and Infrastructure, had taken a loan of Rs 300 crore from the Worli branch of Yes Bank in 2015. Due to a financial crisis, Saffair Land Development sought a loan of Rs 150 crore, which was sanctioned by the bank in 2016.

Properties valued at Rs 1,000 crore of HDIL and its group companies were mortgaged with the bank for securing the loan, which was to be repaid within 36 months.

But in June 2018, Singh learnt that Yes Bank had authorised Suraksha Asset Reconstruction Pvt Ltd to recover Rs 176.53 crore from his company even though the period of repayment was yet to get over.

Singh alleged that the mortgaged property valued at Rs 1,000 crore was illegally transferred to Suraksha ARC, even though the company had not been declared a Non-Performing Asset (NPA), as noted in a 2019 special audit report. The properties were sold off at below-the-market rate, he claimed.

Further, the complainant also alleged that Yes Bank provided margin money of Rs 22.5 crore to Suraksha ARC by routing it through multiple accounts as part of a conspiracy to grab the mortgaged properties.

Based on the complaint, Worli police registered a case against Kapoor, Walia and others under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code, including section 409 ( criminal breach of trust) and section 120B (criminal conspiracy), a police official said.

No arrests have been made so far, and further investigation is underway, he added.