Enforcement Directorate questions Yes Bank’s Rana Kapoor in Reliance Anil Ambani group case

Former Yes Bank CEO Rana Kapoor is being questioned today as a part of money laundering investigations against Anil Ambani group companies at the Enforcement Diretorate headquaters, an ED official said.

The statement is being recorded under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), they said.

The probe is related to the period between 2017-2019 when Yes Bank allegedly invested ₹2,965 crore in Reliance Home Finance Ltd (RHFL) instruments and ₹2,045 crore in Reliance Commercial Finance Limited (RCFL) instruments. By December 2019, these had become non-performing investments, the agency claimed.

The outstanding was ₹1,353.5 crore for RHFL and ₹1,984 crore for RCFL, and the probe found that the two companies received public funds worth more than ₹11,000 crore, according to the ED.

“Before Yes Bank invested this money in Reliance Anil Ambani group companies, Yes Bank had received huge funds from erstwhile Reliance Nippon Mutual Fund.

“As per SEBI regulations, Reliance Nippon Mutual Fund could not invest/divert funds directly in Anil Ambani group finance companies due to conflict-of-interest rules,” the ED said.

Therefore, public money in mutual fund schemes was routed indirectly by them and the path ran through the Yes Bank’s exposures, the agency claimed.

(With PTI inputs)