New Delhi: Former finance minister Yashwant Sinha Tuesday demanded a probe into alleged diversion of Rs 31,000 crore of loans by DHFL that the company raised from state-owned banks including SBI and Bank of Baroda, a charge the NBFC termed as mischievous with a mala fide intention.
According to a Cobrapost expose, Dewan Housing Finance Corporation Limited (DHFL) through layers of shell companies allegedly siphoned off Rs 31,000 crore out of total bank loans of Rs 97,000 crore.
“If the government fails to order an immediate investigation into the allegations into the aspects including political funding, it would raise a question mark on the intent of the government. Therefore, I demand investigation under court supervision by a special investigative team,” Sinha said after the details of Cobrapost were revealed.
DHFL in a statement said the company is a publicly listed housing finance company and is regulated by the National Housing Bank and the Securities and Exchange Board of India, amongst other regulators.
“This mischievous misadventure by Cobrapost appears to have been done with a mala fide intent to cause damage to the goodwill and reputation of DHFL and resulting in erosion in shareholder value,” the statement said.
The real intent of this exercise appears to be to destabilise the company and the market equilibrium besides hampering to meet the on-going obligations, it said. Sinha also said the expose raises question mark on the claims of the government of nailing down of lakhs of shell companies.
All the agencies including regulators of the government have failed to track nefarious deals, he said. Citing exposes, he alleged that political donations were received by a political party.
The exposes alleged that the scam has been pulled off mainly by sanctioning and disbursing astronomical amounts in secured and unsecured loans to dubious shell/pass-through companies, related to DHFL’s own primary stakeholders Kapil Wadhawan, Aruna Wadhawan and Dheeraj Wadhawan through their proxies and associates which have in turn passed the money on to companies controlled by the Wadhawans.
“The money has been used to buy shares/equity and other private assets in India and abroad, including in countries like the UK, Dubai, Sri Lanka and Mauritius,” it said.