Dheeraj Wadhawan owned 44 companies of Wadhawan group

MUMBAI: Dheeraj Wadhawan, the then non-executive Director of Dewan Housing Finance Ltd (DHFL), owned 44 companies of the Wadhawan group and also managed the works of the real estate business of the Wadhawan group, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) has claimed in its chargesheet in the Rs 3,700 crore Yes Bank case involving its founder Rana Kapoor.

The revelations figure in the ED's supplementary chargesheet filed in a Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court in Mumbai on July 13, naming 11 other accused in the matter.

The ED said that Dheeraj Wadhawan, in his statement to the financial probe agency, claimed that he was the non-executive Director of DHFL and was also in the finance committee of DHFL and 40 per cent of its shares were held by his family members.

He also informed the ED that there is a holding company called Wadhawan Global Capital (WGC) that's owned by his family which in turn owns DHFL.

The ED claimed that it recorded the statement of Mehul Bavishi, who was in 2002 employed as project manager in Interactive Max Tech (IMT), a software development and advertising company owned by Hiten Sakhuja, cousin of Dheeraj Wadhawan.

Bavishi claimed that on the directions of Sakhuja, he was appointed as Director of several companies of Dheeraj wadhawan and Kapil Wadhawan.

The ED said that Bavishi also provided the names of 44 companies owned and controlled by the Wadhawan brothers (Dheeraj and Kapil).

"In 2014, Bavishi was made the Director in two more companies of Dheeraj Wadhawan, where he used to sign documents sent to him. In the next three-four years, he was also made the Director in about 14-15 companies of Dheeraj Wadhawan," the ED claimed.

Bavishi also claimed that he did not have any authority or power in decision making pertaining to the affairs of these companies and he was the director on paper only.

The ED said that when it questioned Bavishi about the loan of Rs 750 crore sanctioned by Yes Bank to Belief Realtors Pvt Ltd (BRPL) to DHFL through Valencia Developers Pvt Ltd, Bavishi said that he was not aware of the transactions routed through Valencia, of which he was made the director.

Bavishi also said that he was not aware of any kind of loan taken by BRPL and its transfer to Valencia Developers and eventually to DHFL. (IANS) 

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