The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has frozen a bank deposit amounting to $5.41 million, approximately Rs 51.75 crore, in connection with its ongoing money-laundering investigation into the substantial Rs 34,615-crore bank loan fraud involving Dewan Housing Finance Corporation Ltd (DHFL) and its promoters. This significant action in New Delhi, announced on Friday, August 28, followed a search operation conducted on August 19 against DHFL entities.
Investigators identified the frozen sum as alleged proceeds of crime, secured under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002. The deposit was found in the bank account of M/s Al Jalore Trading FZE during the August 19 search, alongside other incriminating documents and records.
A key aspect of the probe reveals the alleged disposal of a foreign asset, Hurtmore House in the United Kingdom, held under the name of Vanita Wadhawan, wife of DHFL promoter Kapil Wadhawan. This property was purportedly sold in 2026 through a series of transactions designed to create a fictitious liability in her name. A purported loan agreement between M/s Al Jalore Trading FZE and Vanita Wadhawan led to the UK property's mortgage. The ED's findings suggest this arrangement aimed to encumber the foreign asset, facilitating the settlement of an Indian liability stemming from the wider DHFL loan fraud. Crucially, the sale consideration for Hurtmore House was directed to M/s Al Jalore Trading FZE's bank account in India, bypassing the registered owner, Vanita Wadhawan.
This intricate transaction, according to the agency, involved the dissipation of alleged crime proceeds and the strategic use of a foreign asset to clear an Indian financial obligation. The ED initiated its investigation based on an FIR registered by the CBI's AC-VI unit in New Delhi. This followed a complaint from Union Bank of India, acting on behalf of a consortium of 17 banks that collectively sanctioned credit facilities totaling Rs 42,871.42 crore to DHFL.
The CBI FIR alleges that Kapil Wadhawan, Dheeraj Wadhawan, and others engaged in a criminal conspiracy to defraud these banks. Loan funds were allegedly siphoned off and misappropriated through falsified DHFL accounts, causing an approximate wrongful loss of Rs 34,615 crore to the consortium lenders. The investigation into this complex case continues.
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📰 Source: Daijiworld