ED attaches properties worth Rs 40 crore in DHFL loan fraud case
The Directorate of Enforcement attached land in Maharashtra and a residential plot in New Delhi linked to the Wadhawan family.
The Directorate of Enforcement (ED) attached immovable properties worth Rs 40 crore in Delhi and Maharashtra on Monday in connection with a money-laundering investigation. The investigation arises from a bank loan fraud involving Dewan Housing Finance Corporation Ltd (DHFL) and its promoters, Kapil Wadhawan and Dheeraj Wadhawan, according to The Hawk.
The attached assets include land parcels at Karjat in the Raigad district of Maharashtra and a residential plot at Shanti Niketan in New Delhi. The provisional attachment was carried out by the ED Headquarters Investigation Unit under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002.
The ED investigation began following an FIR registered by the CBI in New Delhi. The FIR was based on a complaint from the Union Bank of India on behalf of a consortium of 17 banks.
According to the FIR, Kapil Wadhawan, Dheeraj Wadhawan, and others entered a criminal conspiracy to cheat the bank consortium, which had sanctioned credit facilities totaling Rs 42,871 crore to DHFL. The ED stated that loan funds were siphoned off through falsified books of accounts, causing a wrongful loss of Rs 34,615 crore to the lenders.
The ED investigation revealed that the Wadhawans controlled approximately 225 companies. Forensic audits of DHFL identified 66 entities connected to the promoters that received loans and advances exceeding Rs 29,100 crore.
The agency also found that Rs 11,549 crore was diverted to 87 promoter-controlled entities through a fictitious Bandra Branch. This branch disguised large disbursals to Wadhawan Group entities as home loans for about 2.60 lakh fictitious retail borrowers.