Dheeraj Wadhawan owned 44 companies of Wadhawan group: ED

Mumbai: Dheeraj Wadhawan, the then non-executive Director of Dewan Housing Finance Ltd (DHFL), owned 44 companies of the Wadhawan group and also managed the works of the real estate business of the Wadhawan group, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) has claimed in its charge sheet in the Rs 3,700 crore Yes Bank case involving its founder Rana Kapoor.

The revelations figure in the ED's supplementary charge sheet filed in a Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court in Mumbai on July 13, naming 11 other accused in the matter.

The ED said that Dheeraj Wadhawan, in his statement to the financial probe agency, claimed that he was the non-executive Director of DHFL and was also in the finance committee of DHFL and 40 per cent of its shares were held by his family members.

He also informed the ED that there is a holding company called Wadhawan Global Capital (WGC) that's owned by his family which in turn owns DHFL.

The ED claimed that it recorded the statement of Mehul Bavishi, who was in 2002 employed as project manager in Interactive Max Tech (IMT), a software development and advertising company owned by Hiten Sakhuja, cousin of Dheeraj Wadhawan.

Bavishi claimed that on the directions of Sakhuja, he was appointed as Director of several companies of Dheeraj wadhawan and Kapil Wadhawan.

The ED said that Bavishi also provided the names of 44 companies owned and controlled by the Wadhawan brothers (Dheeraj and Kapil).

"In 2014, Bavishi was made the Director in two more companies of Dheeraj Wadhawan, where he used to sign documents sent to him. In the next three-four years, he was also made the Director in about 14-15 companies of Dheeraj Wadhawan," the ED claimed.

Bavishi also claimed that he did not have any authority or power in decision making pertaining to the affairs of these companies and he was the director on paper only.

The ED said that when it questioned Bavishi about the loan of Rs 750 crore sanctioned by Yes Bank to Belief Realtors Pvt Ltd (BRPL) to DHFL through Valencia Developers Pvt Ltd, Bavishi said that he was not aware of the transactions routed through Valencia, of which he was made the director.

Bavishi also said that he was not aware of any kind of loan taken by BRPL and its transfer to Valencia Developers and eventually to DHFL.

According to the ED, BRPL is one of the companies owned by the Wadhawans. In his statement to ED, Bavishi also claimed that 44 companies were owned by Dheeraj Wadhawan and their controlled entities while Dheeraj Wadhawan was also managing the real estate business of the Wadhawan Group or RKW Group.

Dheeraj Wadhawan, in his statement to ED about the Rs 750 crore loan sanctioned to BRPL, said that his family was engaged in several businesses like housing finance, real estate, hotels and restaurants etc.

He told the ED that there is one special purpose vehicle (SPV), BRPL, held by his retail estate holding company namely RKW Developers Pvt Ltd, and it is the holding company of all the real estate projects where he is director and shareholder of the company.

The ED had registered a case of money laundering on March 7 this year based on an FIR filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on the same day against 12 people, including Rana Kapoor, his wife and daughters, the Wadhawan brothers and five firms.

The Wadhawans were arrested by the CBI from Mahabaleshwar in Maharashtra on April 26, before the ED also arrested them in May.

The ED on July 9 attached assets worth Rs 2,203 crore comprising 344 bank accounts, investments and high-end vehicles in India, New York and Australia belonging to Kapoor and his family, the Wadhawans and others under the PMLA in the Rs 3,700 crore fraud case.