Yes Bank money laundering: HC rejects bail pleas of DHFL promoters Dheeraj and Kapil Wadhawan in CBI case

The Wadhawan brothers are accused of diverting nearly Rs 4,122 crore from the General Provident Fund (GPF) and Central Provident Fund (CPF) deposits of UP Power Corporation Limited (UPPCL) to their company.

The Bombay High Court on Wednesday rejected bail pleas of former DHFL promoters Kapil and Dheeraj Wadhawan, accused in Yes Bank Money Laundering case. A single judge bench of Justice Sarang V Kotwal passed orders on pleas made by Wadhawan brothers.

On March 7, the CBI had registered a case against Kapil and Dheeraj Wadhawan along with Rana Kapoor, the then managing director and chief executive officer of Yes Bank, and others in connection with an alleged multi-crore scam connected to Yes Bank. The CBI took custody of Wadhawan brothers from Satara, Maharashtra in April this year.

The CBI claimed that both Kapil and Dheeraj were on the run since the beginning of the investigation. On March 9, the CBI raided the premises of the accused but their whereabouts remained unknown. The CBI had then issued them a notice which went ignored. The same month a non-bailable arrest warrant was issued. The Enforcement Directorate is also investigating allegations of money laundering in the Yes Bank case.

Representing Kapil Wadhawan, Senior Advocate Amit Desai had submitted before the High Court that CBI had not complied with the procedure under Section 173 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC), which lays down procedure for report of police officer on completion of investigation, while submitting the investigation report to the Special Magistrate.

He argued that if the report is not complete, the court could not take cognizance and, consequently, the provisions could not be considered. Desai claimed that the report was not submitted to the Court, but was filed in the registry and, therefore, requirements under the law were not fulfilled.

Senior Counsel Abhishek Manu Singhvi, appearing for Dheeraj Wadhawan, had submitted that statutory bail was a vital liberty and an indefeasible right. Singhvi said that the chargesheet filed did not provide sufficient evidence to prove all alleged offences.

Additional Solicitor General Anil Singh, representing CBI, opposed the pleas stating that all procedures and compliances were followed as per law by the CBI officials. He added that any change in the filing procedure of the chargesheet was in view of the pandemic situation, during which the court had taken precautionary steps before handling documents.

He said that the special CBI Court had rejected bail plea to Wadhawan brothers and the submissions made based on section 173 of CrPC were not made before the special Court.

Earlier, on August 20, observing that ‘undue delay is not conducive to administration of criminal justice,’ a single-judge bench of Justice Bharati H Dangre of the High Court had granted bail by default to DHFL promoters Dheeraj and Kapil Wadhawan, accused in Yes Bank money laundering case, as Enforcement Directorate (ED) could not file a prosecution complaint or charge sheet within stipulated 60 days of their arrest. The court said that mandatory default bail was a sequel to non-filing of the chargesheet within the prescribed period.

However, Wadhawans were not able to come out of jail in view of the case lodged by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) against them in the same case. ED is separately probing other pending cases against them.

Thereafter, ED moved the Supreme Court against the HC order and the apex Court in September this year stayed the High Court order granting default bail to Wadhawan brothers.

The Wadhawan brothers are accused of diverting nearly Rs 4,122 crore from the General Provident Fund (GPF) and Central Provident Fund (CPF) deposits of UP Power Corporation Limited (UPPCL) to their company. They have been also accused of fraudulently diverting nearly Rs 12,700 crore from DHFL’s accounts to companies beneficially owned by them and further diverting those funds to other firms.

It has also been alleged that Rana Kapoor, former CEO of Yes Bank, had entered into a criminal conspiracy with the Wadhawans to extend financial help to DHFL through the Yes Bank in return for “substantial undue benefits” to himself and his family members.

Source: Read Full Article