ED Arrests Crisis-hit Yes Bank’s Founder Rana Kapoor for Alleged Money Laundering – News18

Mumbai: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) arrested Yes Bank founder Rana Kapoor under money laundering charges in the wee hours of Sunday, officials said.

They said Kapoor was placed under arrest around 3am under the provision of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) as he was allegedly not cooperating in the probe.

Rana was questioned by the ED sleuths for over 20 hours after the central agency raided his residence on Friday night.

The raids came a day after the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) capped depositor withdrawals from the troubled bank at Rs 50,000 for a month and superseded the board of the private sector lender with immediate effect. Yes Bank will not be able to grant or renew any loan or advance, make any investment, incur any liability or agree to disburse any payment.

Kapoor will be produced before a local court during the day to obtain custody, the officials said.

The ED is investigating Kapoor’s role in connection with the disbursal of a loan to a corporate entity and the subsequent alleged kickbacks reportedly received in his wife’s accounts. Some other alleged irregularities are also under the agency’s scanner, added officials.

The case against Kapoor also has links with the DHFL probe as the loans lent by the bank to the company allegedly turned into Non-Performing Assets (NPAs), said the officials, adding other alleged irregularities are also under the agency’s scanner.

Earlier on Friday, the State Bank of India (SBI) said it will pick up a 49% stake in Yes Bank under a government-approved bailout plan, with Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman assuring depositors that their money is safe.

A day after imposing a moratorium on Yes Bank, the RBI issued a draft reconstruction scheme for the private sector lender and said the SBI has “expressed its willingness” to make an investment.

Yes Bank has been struggling to raise capital. It sought to raise $2 billion initially during this fiscal, which was then pruned to $1.2 billion as it could not rope in a single investor.

The bank had also deferred the announcement of its financial results for the third quarter ending December. It had told stock exchanges that it will publish the same on or before March 14 this year.