New Delhi: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has registered a case against Kapil and Dheeraj Wadhawan, directors of Dewan Housing Finance Limited (DHFL), for allegedly creating “fake and fictitious” home loan accounts and sanctioning loans worth Rs 14,046 crore under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY) to fraudulently avail interest subsidy on them.
According to CBI officials, DHFL created 2.60 lakh fake home loan accounts in a non-existent “Bandra Branch” between 2007-2019, and claimed that they have sanctioned and disbursed a total loan of Rs 14,046 crore under the PMAY scheme.
The company then deposited and routed Rs 11,755.79 crore out of the total loan amount, to several fictitious firms that were named ‘Bandra Book firms’, passing them off as loans disbursed under PMAY.
According to CBI, for these fictitious loans sanction, DHFL had already received Rs 539.40 crore interest subsidy and was to further receive an interest subsidy of Rs 1,347.80 crore, which amounts to a total of Rs 1,887.20 crore from the Government of India.
The duo allegedly took advantage of the government housing scheme and claimed subsidy from the National Housing Bank, a government regulator for housing finance companies. This was allegedly done by conspiring with bank authorities, causing a loss to the government exchequer.
The matter came to light during an audit by Grant Thornton firm, which was appointed by the present board of DHFL, and an FIR was registered on 15 March.
Also read: Why bankrupt DHFL’s ordinary FD holders will lose more money than banks that supported it
Housing scheme
The PMAY housing for all scheme was launched by the central government in October 2015.
Under the scheme, managed by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development, loans are granted to economically weaker sections, low- and middle-income groups and members of the society, for the purpose of buying land to construct a house, develop dwelling units under slum development schemes and housing purchase from private and public sector housing companies.
According to a CBI official, under the scheme, the housing finance companies that extend these loans are eligible for credit-linked interest subsidy that varies from 3 per cent to 6.5 per cent per annum and the subsidy is payable upfront with a cap of Rs 2,30,156 to Rs 2,67,280 depending on the category in which the borrower falls.
The maximum loan amount eligible under the scheme is Rs 24 lakh.
The subsidy amount, the officer explained, is to be claimed by the institutions from the National Housing Bank.
The government then reimburses the subsidy amount to the National Housing Bank, out of the budgetary provision in the Union Budget.
DHFL is one such housing company, which has granted loans under the PMAY.
Also read: DHFL’s bankruptcy saga shows India will struggle to fix financial system after Covid
Fake accounts of borrowers created
According to the FIR, a copy of which was accessed by ThePrint, in a call with the institutional investors of the company, DHFL claimed that till December 2018, it had processed 88,651 cases under PMAY scheme.
In the same call, the company also claimed that it has received Rs 539.40 crore interest subsidy and has to receive interest subsidy of Rs 1,347.80 crore.
The audit report, however, revealed that DHFL’s promoters Kapil Rajesh Wadhawan and his brother Dheeraj Wadhawan had opened a “fictitious Bandra Branch of DHFL, where fake housing loan accounts of such borrowers, who repaid their housing loan earlier, were credited in database”.
“Several bogus accounts in nonexistent Bandra Branch of DHFL were opened under PMAY and interest subsidy as per norms of PMAY were claimed from National Housing Bank with connivance of official and NHB and thus committed fraud on the government exchequer,” the FIR said.
The Wadhawan brothers are also being investigated in the Yes Bank case, for allegedly giving Rs 600 crore as kickbacks to the former CEO and managing director Rana Kapoor for investing Rs 3,700 crore in short-term debentures between April and June 2018.
These kickbacks, CBI claimed, were in the form of a loan the company registered in the name of Kapoor’s daughters. The Enforcement Directorate is also investigating DHFL’s role in the Yes Bank crisis.
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If am not wrong Ms. Savita Singh, wife of Mr. Param Bir Singh (IPS officer), is an independent director at DHFL. The news report should have mentioned/clarified it.
It seems the parties involved in such shady activities have earned well enough to provide for several successive generations. All they require now is a flight to London – the preferred destination of all white collar criminals.
WADHWA BROTHERS SHOULD BE HANG TO DEATH FOR CHEATING GOVT OF INDIA!