The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has summoned for questioning over a dozen senior officials of five top alleged defaulters and others for recording their statements in connection with the Yes Bank case.
A senior ED official said they had been summoned between March 17 and March 21. “Among them are the Wadhawans of the Dewan Housing Finance Ltd (DHFL), who have been asked to appear on March 17. The statement of former, Jet Airways chairman Naresh Goyal and Essel Group’s Subhash Chandra are also to be recorded on March 18,” the official said,” the official said.
Among those summoned are Reliance Group chief Anil Ambani, Wadhawans of DHFL, Jet Airways’ Naresh Goyal, Essel Group’s Subhash Chandra and Indiabulls’ Sameer Gehlaut.
Through his Twitter handle, Mr. Chandra said: “I have been requested by ED to make a statement on the information which is already available with them. I will be more than happy to be personally present at their office, honouring their request, in order to extend all the required co-operation.”
He said: “Essel Group has never made any transactions with Mr. Rana Kapoor or his family or for that matter any private entities controlled by them.”
The agency is to examine Reliance group chief Anil Ambani and Peter Kerkar of Cox & Kings on March 19 while Sameer Gehlot of IndiaBulls has been summoned on March 20 and Avantha Realty promoter Gautam Thapar on March 21, the official said.
The ED probe is based on two FIRs registered by the Central Bureau of Investigation against the then Yes Bank promoter director Rana Kapoor, his wife and others.
When asked for comments, an Indiabulls spokesperson said, “ We have not received any such summon. Your information is incorrect. Indiabulls Housing has no term loans outstanding from Yes Bank. Sameer Gehlaut or any company related to him or his relatives have no loans outstanding from Yes Bank.”
“There was a similar rumour of CBI raid on Friday which became quite apparent was untrue by CBIs formal release itself. We also had sent a release on the same to the stock exchange . Kindly do not get influenced by such incorrect rumours which keep getting floated,” he added.
Essel Group has confirmed that the Enforcement Directorate (ED) has requested Dr. Subhash Chandra’s presence on March 18 2020, to make a statement on the information which is already available with them.
“Dr. Chandra will certainly be present to make the statement and will be more than happy to extend any support or co-operation requested by ED. The group wishes to clarify that most of the credit facilities were availed for its infrastructure business and there is no debt on ZEEL, ZMCL, etc,” said an Essel Group statement.
“The Group also wishes to cite that all credit facilities availed were fully secured. The Group has never made any transactions with Mr. Rana Kapoor or his family or for that matter any private entities controlled by them,” the statement added.
“Reliance Group states it has NIL direct or indirect exposure to Mr. Rana Kapoor, former CEO of Yes Bank, or his wife or daughters, or any entities controlled by Mr. Rana Kapoor or his family. Reliance Group says its entire exposure to Yes Bank is fully secured and transacted in ordinary course of business,” said a Reliance Group statement adding that the Group is committed to honour repayments of all its borrowings from Yes Bank through its various asset monetisation programmes which are all at advanced stages.
