Bank fraud: ED attaches Rs 78 crore worth land parcels owned by Gautam Thapar

Investigation by ED: Land parcels worth more than Rs 78 crore of a company "beneficially owned" by businessman Gautam Thapar have been attached as part of a probe into alleged bank loan fraud of over Rs 466 crore at the Yes Bank, the ED said Saturday.

The federal agency has provisionally attached 52.11 acres of land in the Gurugram district of Haryana. The investigation pertains to a company named Oyester Buildwell Private Limited (OBPL) whose beneficial owner is Gautam Thapar, it said in a statement.

The case filed by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) under various sections of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) stems from a CBI FIR against Thapar, OBPL and the businessman's other company Avantha Realty Ltd.

It is alleged that they "cheated", and committed "forgery" for misappropriation of public money between 2017 and 2019 and caused a loss of Rs 466.51 crore to the Yes Bank.

According to ED, OBPL obtained a loan of Rs 514.27 crore in 2018 from Yes Bank Ltd. based on "sham" O&M (operations and maintenance) agreements.

"Out of this loan amount, Rs 14.11 crore was retained by Yes Bank as loan processing charge and the balance amount of Rs 500.11 crore was transferred by OBPL to its sister concerns in the guise of sham O&M agreements", the agency alleged.

Since the said loan was given under "dubious" circumstances, it eventually became an NPA (non-performing asset) for the bank, and only Rs 47.75 crore could be recovered and "proceeds of crime" to the tune of Rs 466.51 crore remained unrecoverable, it said.

The ED earlier filed a charge sheet against 18 people, including Thapar and former Yes Bank promoter Rana Kapoor before a special PMLA court in Delhi as part of this probe.

Thapar was arrested in the case, and he is currently out on bail given to him by a court on health grounds.