MUMBAI: A special court here on Thursday remandedthe chairman and the managing director (MD) of city- based Omkar Realtors and Developers to the ED custody till January 30 in connection with a money laundering case linked to the alleged loan fraud in Yes Bank.
The chairman of the company, Kamal Kishore Gupta, and MD Babulal Varma were arrested hereon Wednesday by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
The central probe agency produced the duobefore the special PMLA court, presided over by judge A A Nandgoankar, and sought their remand for interrogation.
Accepting the ED”s plea, the court sent Gupta and Varma to the agency”s custody till January 30.
The ED raided 10 premises of the realty group and its promoters in Mumbai on January 25 on charges of misusing various permissions given under the Slum Rehabilitation Authority (SRA) schemes and allegations of “diverting” around Rs 450 crore taken by way of a loan from Yes bank, agency sources had said.
The company had then called the ED action a “routine enquiry” and said it is a matter related to some writ petitions filed against it before the Bombay High Court.
The real estate firm had said it has not diverted any funds and “has acted as per legal rules and regulations”.
“The matter raised by the petitioner in regards to a Rs 450 crore loan from Yes Bank is availed under banking guidelines as project loan against sale collaterals and utilised for the stated purpose only.
“We will like to emphatically state that there are no diversions of any project fund availed by us in any project of the company,” the company had said.
Yes Bank co-promoter Rana Kapoor (63) and scam-hit Dewan Housing Finance Ltd (DHFL) promoters Kapil Wadhawan and Dheeraj Wadhawan were arrested in the case by the ED last year and they are in judicial custody at present.
On Wednesday, the special court had remanded Kapoor to the ED”s custody till January 30 after her was arrested in a fresh money laundering case.
The ED had booked Kapoor, his family members and others under the PMLA after studying a CBI FIR that alleged that dubious multi-crore loans were given by Yes Bank to various entities in contravention of the law and in lieu of purported kickbacks given to the Kapoor family.
The agency has accused Kapoor, his family members and others of laundering proceeds of crime worth Rs 4,300 crore by receiving alleged kickbacks in lieu of extending big loans through their bank that later turned non-performing assets.
Source: Press Trust of India