DHFL siphoned off Rs 13K cr through 1L fake borrowers

MUMBAI: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has told a dedicated court dealing with money laundering offences that Rs 12,773 crore was allegedly siphoned off over the past decade from DHFL through about one lakh fictitious borrowers which were created to route the money into about 80 shell companies.The agency, probing arrested promoter of the embattled home financier Kapil Wadhawan, told a Prevention of Money laundering Act (PMLA) court that the Wadhawans had allegedly used a part of these funds to pay the late drug lord Iqbal Memon, alias Iqbal Mirchi.The agency arrested Kapil Wadhawan on Monday. His brother, Dheeraj, is out on bail.“Wadhawan, through five shell companies, purchased three properties at Worli from Iqbal Mirchi. The value of these properties, as per book accounts, was shown Rs 111 crore, but a payment of more than Rs 150 crore was made in Dubai through the hawala channel. The loans were given to these shell companies by DHFL in a circuitous manner, and a part of this loan was used to make payments to Mirchi,” said an officer privy to the probe details. “An amount of Rs 12,773 crore (yes)was actually siphoned off through fraudulent loans to 100,000 fictitious customers, using 79 paper companies.”The ED is probing a property deal comprising the purchase of three dilapidated buildings in Worli, which were illegally acquired by Mirchi and subsequently sold to Sunblink Real Estate, an alleged front company of the Wadhawans. The ED has relied on the statement of Heena Cheda, partner at Hariyani & Co, to claim that the Wadhawans paid Rs 199.50 crore to Mirchi for the purchase of these properties.The agency believes the money is actually Mirchi’s proceeds of crime.ED told the court that DHFL had given Rs 1,500 crore in loans to Faith Realtors, Marvel Township, Able Realty, Poseidon Realty, and Random Realtors around 2010-2011. These loans were outstanding in the books of DHFL until July 2019, with total outstanding of Rs 2,186 crore.“Investigation has revealed that there are no documents available with the office of DHFL with regard to these loans. At the time of sanctioning these loans, no collateral was taken/given. These companies appear to be shell companies as deposed by their respective directors. These persons also deposed that the beneficiary owners of these companies were the Wadhawan brothers,” said the agency’s earlier remand application.The court remanded Kapil Wadhawan to ED's custody until Friday.

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