CBI raids industrialist Gautam Thapar for siphoning Rs.466 crore from Yes Bank. Thapar already accused Rs.307 crore swindling from Yes Bank

Thapar in the hot seat again as CBI conducts raids on Yes Bank embezzlement

June 10, 2021

Industrialist Gautam Thapar is again facing the heat of CBI for siphoning Yes Bank. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has on Wednesday carried out searches at 14 locations in Delhi-NCR and three other cities after registering an FIR against Oyster Buildwell Private Ltd, Avantha group promoter Gautam Thapar and others for alleged diversion of over Rs 466 crore in Yes Bank during 2017-19, officials said.

Gautam Thapar is already being probed in another case related to diversion of public money in Yes Bank in March 2020 involving the bank’s former chief Rana Kapoor and wife Bindu Kapoor for obtaining a bribe of Rs.307 crore from irregularities related to purchasing Rs.1900 plush bungalow in Central Delhi[1].

OBPL was required to pay an interest-free refundable security deposit of Rs.515 crore to JPIL for which Yes Bank had sanctioned a long-term loan of Rs.515 crore for 10 years.

Now Gautam Thapar and his Avantha Group is second time becoming Accused in the two separate cases registered by CBI. The Enforcement Directorate (ED) is also expected to register separate cases for money laundering in this regard which may lead to long imprisonment to the noted industrialist in the coming days.

Gautam Thapar’s billion dollars worth flagship company Avantha Group is controlling so many big industries like Crompton Greaves Limited, Ballarpur Indsutries Ltd, JG Containers, Avantha ERGO Life Insurance etc. In the present case, the CBI has also booked directors of Oyster Buildwell Pvt Ltd – Raghubir Kumar Sharma, Rajendra Kumar Mangal and Tapsi Mahajan – as well as unidentified executives of Avantha Realty Pvt Ltd and Jhabua Power Ltd.

Oyster Buildwell Pvt Ltd (OBPL) is part of Avantha group with over 97 per cent stake held by Avantha Realty and the remaining by Thapar and Vani agencies, said CBI in their First Information Report (FIR). The case has been registered on a complaint, dated May 27, 2021, from Chief Vigilance Officer of the Bank Ashish Vinod Joshi. The CBI said that the accused have indulged in a criminal conspiracy, criminal breach of trust, cheating and forgery for diversion of public money to the tune of Rs 466.15 crore, they said.

After registering the case, the CBI team searched at 14 locations in Delhi and NCR, Lucknow (Uttar Pradesh), Secunderabad (Telangana) and Kolkata (West Bengal) including the premises of the accused, they said. The complaint by Yes Bank, now a part of the FIR, has alleged that Jhabua Power Limited (JPL), a group concern of OBPL, entered in a operations and maintenance contract for its 600 MW power plant with its holding company Jhabua Power Investment Ltd for 10 years.

OBPL was required to pay an interest-free refundable security deposit of Rs.515 crore to JPIL for which Yes Bank had sanctioned a long-term loan of Rs.515 crore for 10 years. The company defaulted on payments with the account turning into a non-performing asset on October 30, 2019. The total outstanding principal dues stand at Rs.466.15 crore, it alleged. During its forensic audit, the bank found that only Rs.14.16 crore of the total Rs.514.27 crore disbursed by the bank were transferred to JPIL in its IndusInd bank account and “ultimate end use of Rs.500.11 crore loan fund could not be ascertained”, said the FIR of the agency.

The inspection of JPIL accounts showed that it had granted an advance of Rs.345.15 crore to group company Avantha Power and Infrastructure Ltd from the security money received from OBPL, but in the absence of account statements of JPIL, the money trail could not be established by the auditor, said CBI. During an internal review of bank documents, Yes Bank found that the money given to OBPL for the security deposit to JPIL was used by it to clear loans of the Avantha group of Gautam Thapar.

References:

[1] CBI books Yes banks Rana Kapoor wife and industrialist Gautam Thapar in lutyens Delhi land deal – Mar 14, 2020, PGurus.com

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