Bank Fraud Case: ED Attaches Immovable Properties Worth Over Rs 78 Cr Owned By Gautam Thapar

The Enforcement Directorate has provisionally attached 24 immovable properties worth Rs 78.18 crore of a company "beneficially owned" by businessman Gautam Thapar as part of a probe into alleged bank loan fraud of over Rs 466 crore at the Yes Bank, the ED said on Saturday.

The ED has provisionally attached 24 immovable properties spanning 52.11 acres of land in Gurugram, Haryana, under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act.
"Directorate of Enforcement (ED) has provisionally attached 24 immovable properties spanning 52.11 acres of land valued at Rs 78.18 crore belonging to M/s Oyester Buildwell Private Limited, a company whose beneficial owner is Gautam Thapar. The properties so attached are located in Gurugram, Haryana," as per an official press release.

ED initiated investigation on the basis of an FIR registered by Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) under various sections of IPC, 1860 against M/s Oyster Buildwell, M/s Avantha Realty Ltd., Gautam Thapar and others having committed criminal breach of trust, cheating, criminal conspiracy and forgery for diversion/misappropriation of the public money during the period from 2017 to 2019 and causing loss to the tune of Rs 466.51 crore to Yes Bank, ED stated in the release.

"ED investigation revealed that M/s Oyster Buildwell obtained a loan of Rs 514.27 crore in the year 2018 from Yes Bank Ltd. on the basis of sham O&M agreements. Out of this loan amount, an amount of Rs 14.11 crore was retained by Yes Bank as loan processing charges and the balance amount of Rs 500.11 crore was thereafter transferred by M/s OBPL to its sister concerns in guise of sham O&M agreements," as per the release.

Since the said loan was given under dubious circumstances, it eventually became a non-performing asset (NPA) for the bank, and only an amount of Rs 47.75 crore could be recovered from the loan of Rs 500.11 crore and POC to the tune of Rs 466.51 crore remained unrecoverable, the ED stated.
As per ED, the Prosecution Complaint against 18 individuals, including Gautam Thapar and Rana Kapoor, has already been filed in the Hon'ble Special Court (PMLA), New Delhi in this case.

Gautam Thapar was arrested by ED in this case, and currently he is out on bail on health grounds, it said.

Further investigations are under progress. (ANI)