Money

PNB reports loan fraud by DHFL amounting to Rs 3688 crore

Written by : TNM Staff

State-run Punjab National Bank (PNB) has reported a borrowal fraud of Rs 3,688.58 crore in the NPA (non-performing asset) account of the now bankrupt Dewan Housing Finance Ltd (DHFL).

In a regulatory filing, the bank said that it has already made provisions amounting to Rs 1,246.58 crore.

"A fraud of Rs 3,688.58 crore is being reported by the bank to RBI in the accounts of the company (DHFL). Bank has already made provisions amounting to Rs 1,246.58 crore, as per prescribed prudential norms," it said.

Several other banks have already declared DHFL as a fraud account.

Last November, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) superseded the Board of Directors of DHFL and appointed an administrator and accordingly, the board powers were vested in the firm's administrator.

Further, the Mumbai-bench of the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) at Mumbai commenced the CIRP against the company in December, following an application by the RBI.

The company reportedly has debt of around Rs 97,000 crore and has allegedly siphoned off Rs 31,000 crore from the total bank loans.

Its promoters Kapil Wadhawan and Dheeraj Wadhawan were arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation in April.

Earlier, 24 bids were received by the Committee of Creditors (CoC) and the lenders to DHFL were prepared to sell the entire operations of the company to one buyer or to split the assets and sell in parts. After preliminary scrutiny, 22 of the 24 bids were shortlisted. Some of the bidders for complete takeover included KKR India Financial Services, Welspun Group, Adani Group, Oaktree Capital, ARCIL Asset Reconstruction Company and Bain Capital. All of them have sent in their expressions of interest in acquiring the complete stake in DHFL. The case is with the National Company Law Tribunal, Mumbai branch.

The PNB is already embroiled in a scam relating to a fraudulent letter of undertaking worth Rs 10,000 crore issued by the Bank and the key accused is fugitive diamond merchant Nirav Modi. The 49-year-old jeweller, has been lodged at Wandsworth Prison in south-west London since his arrest in March last year. He is facing an extradition trial to India in the fraud case. 

With IANS inputs

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