Bank fraud: Education Ministry seizes Rs 78 crore worth of land belonging to Gautam Thapar

Plots of land worth more than ₹$78 million from a company “beneficially owned” by businessman Gautam Thapar has been seized as part of an investigation into alleged bank loan fraud of more than ₹466 crore to Yes Bank, the ED said on Saturday (September 7).

The federal agency has provisionally seized 52.11 acres of land in Gurugram district of Haryana. The investigation is related 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.

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It is alleged that they “cheated” and committed “forgery” for embezzlement of public funds between 2017 and 2019 and caused a loss of ₹466.51 crore to Yes Bank. According to ED, OBPL has obtained a loan of ₹514.27 crore in 2018 from Yes Bank Ltd. on the basis of “fictitious” O&M (operation and maintenance) agreements.

“Out of this loan amount, Rs 14.11 crore was retained by Yes Bank as loan processing fee and the remaining amount of Rs 500.11 crore was transferred by OBPL to its sister companies under the guise of fictitious operation and maintenance agreements,” the agency alleged.

Since the loan in question was granted under “questionable” circumstances, it eventually became a non-performing asset (NPA) for the bank and only Rs 47.75 crore could be recovered and the “proceeds of crime” to the tune of Rs 466.51 crore remained irrecoverable, he said.

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The education ministry has filed a chargesheet against 18 people, including Thapar and former Yes Bank promoter Rana Kapoor, before a special PMLA court in Delhi in connection with the probe. Thapar was arrested in connection with the case and is currently out on bail, which was granted to him by a court on health grounds.