20 , April , 2024
In a major development, Yes Bank founder Rana Kapoor was released from prison on Friday evening hours after being granted bail by a court in an alleged loan fraud case. Kapoor was first arrested in March 2020 in a money laundering case by the Enforcement Directorate. The ED and Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) have registered a total of eight cases against him related to alleged frauds at Yes Bank. He was lodged at the Taloja jail in neighbouring Navi Mumbai while the trials in these cases are yet to start. He had got bail in seven cases earlier.
M G Deshpande, special judge for CBI cases, granted Kapoor bail earlier in the day while noting that the trial in the present case was pending, and his incarnation was no longer required. The detailed order was not available yet. The CBI had alleged that Kapoor, then managing director and chief executive officer of Yes Bank Limited (YBL), obtained "illegal gratification" (bribe) in the form of a property located at a prime location in Delhi at a price much less than its market value for sanctioning a loan.
The property belonging to Avantha Realty Ltd (ARL) was already mortgaged for a loan taken by the company from Yes Bank. It was purchased for Rs 378 crore -- against the market value of Rs 685 crore -- by Bliss Abode Private Limited, run by Rana Kapoor's wife Bindu Kapoor, in 2017.
Yes Bank, which had already extended credit facilities of Rs 2500 crore to various Avantha Group companies, granted another loan of Rs 400 crore to ARL as part of the quid pro quo deal, the agency claimed.
Kapoor, as MD and CEO of YBL, was the head of the Management Credit Committee (MCC) of the bank which approved the loan. His bail application claimed that the allegations in the CBI's charge sheet did not reveal his role in the wrongdoing.
The chargesheet contained "vague" allegations against Kapoor, argued his lawyer Aabad Ponda along with advocate Rahul Agarwal. Kapoor was never the sole or final approving authority of the loan transaction, and the entire MCC had collectively approved the loan, the lawyers said.Co-accused in the case including Avantha group promoter Gautam Thapar were out on bail, and Thapar was granted bail without being arrested, the application argued.
"Considering these submission, the court released him on bail. After completing all formalities, Kapoor was released from Taloja Central Prison around 7 pm," advocate Agarwal said.
(WITH INPUTS TAKEN FROM PTI)
