At least 71 loan accounts worth more than ₹31,855 crore sanctioned during the tenure of Rana Kapoor, the co-founder and former managing director of Yes Bank, have turned into non-performing assets (NPAs) or non-performing investments NPIs, according to a charge sheet by the Enforcement Directorate (ED).
The charge sheet, reviewed by Hindustan Times, was filed on 1 October in a Delhi court in connection with irregularities in a loan worth ₹514.27 crore granted to Avantha Group by Yes Bank in 2018.
The central anti-money laundering probe agency alleged that Avantha Group’s Gautam Thapar colluded with Kapoor to fraudulently obtain credit facilities by creating sham agreements causing a loss of public money worth ₹466.51 crore. Out of ₹514.27 crore, ₹14.11 crore was the processing fee paid by Avantha Group-controlled company Oyster Buildwell Pvt. Ltd. The bank recovered ₹47.75 crore.
Several high-ranking officials of Yes Bank were allegedly given huge salaries, much higher than the market norms; perks, promotions, and prestigious titles by Rana Kapoor to discourage them from raising red flags about the decisions, according to the charge sheet.
Most of these employees, during their interrogation, tried to put the onus of irregularities on Kapoor alone, but the agency charge sheet said that they were hand-in-glove with him in taking these decisions.
The charge sheet said the new management of the bank found Ashish Agarwal, senior group president and chief risk officer of Yes Bank, accountable for 71 NPAs/NPIs, having a total value of ₹31,855 crore and has imposed a penalty of ₹50 lakh on him for dereliction of duties such as indiscriminate lending, evergreening, and exposure management.
“It is important to mention here that all these (71) loans had been sanctioned under the chairmanship of Rana Kapoor, including the one given to Avantha Group,” the charge sheet said.
In most of the 71 loans, investigations are being carried out by agencies, or the loan accounts have been declared as fraud.
Source: Live Mint