New Delhi [India], September 9 : The Enforcement Directorate (ED) attached immovable and movable assets valued at Rs 185.84 crore in the bank fraud case of Dewan Housing Finance Corporation Ltd. (DHFL), the agency said on Tuesday.
The assets provisionally attached include immovable assets in the form of 154 flats and movable assets in the form of receivables pertaining to 20 flats situated in Mumbai. Total attachment in this case till date stands at Rs 256.23 crore.
ED's Mumbai Zonal Office attached these properties on September 5 under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002, in the bank fraud case of DHFL, wherein Kapil Wadhawan, Dheeraj Wadhawan and other accused persons have entered into a criminal conspiracy to cheat the Consortium of 17 Banks led by Union Bank of India.
ED initiated an investigation on the basis of the First Information Report registered by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) under various provisions of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 and the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988, against DHFL, Kapil Wadhawan, Dheeraj Wadhawan and others for committing bank fraud and cheating a consortium of banks.
ED investigation revealed that DHFL, Kapil Wadhawan, Dheeraj Wadhawan, and others were involved in siphoning off and misappropriating of bank loan funds by falsifying the books of the DHFL and dishonestly defaulting on the bank loans.
Further, the agency said in a statement, it has been revealed that during 2017-18, Kapil Wadhawan and Dheeraj Wadhawan conspired to divert DHFL funds through proxy companies and ICDs for fraudulent trading in DHFL shares.
"These trades executed via brokers were pre-arranged to rig the share price and volumes of publicly listed DHFL stock," said the ED.
Earlier, ED also issued a Provisional Attachment Order for assets worth Rs. 70.39 Crore. ED has also filed a Prosecution Complaint before the Special PMLA Court, Mumbai, on April 3 this year, for which cognisance was taken on May 2.