Bombay HC denies Rana Kapoor bail in money laundering case

MUMBAI: In a setback to Yes Bank founder Rana Kapoor, the Bombay high court has rejected his bail plea in a money laundering case under the PMLA Act.
Kapoor was arrested on March 8, 2020, by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) and the agency said the proceeds of crime involved were around Rs 5,333 crore, of which Kapoor has "siphoned off huge amounts" out of the country through his family-owned companies and invested Rs 378 crore overseas.
The investigation into layering of tainted money is still underway, said the ED.
The agency said Kapoor was trying to sell his properties and had given online advertisements for selling one of his London properties. The ED said the property was attached in September 2020 and if granted bail it may frustrate the proceedings under the PMLA.
There are cases against Kapoor and Kapil Wadhawan, promoter of Dewan Housing Finance Ltd (DHFL), that are pending before the special CBI court and before the special PMLA court in the city since 2020. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had in 2020 registered an FIR against Kapoor and the Wadhawan brothers alleging that Kapoor and family had received a Rs 600 crore kickback on Yes Bank investing Rs 3,700 crore in non-convertible debentures of DHFL. After the CBI FIR, the ED registered its money laundering case against Kapoor and the Wadhawans.
Kapoor through advocate Siya Choudary filed for bail and senior counsel Aabad Ponda argued on the merits of the case and that he had already spent three years in jail as a pre-trial prisoner with no reasonable chances of completion of trial in the near future.
In its reply submitted through ED counsel H S Venegaonkar, the agency sought dismissal of Kapoor's plea for bail.
Justice P D Naik, after hearing them on Wednesday pronounced the order and dismissed the plea.
The ED affidavit said said that Kapoor "is one of the main accused persons" and as a managing director-cum-CEO of the bank during the relevant time, he had "misused his official position to gain undue financial benefit for himself and his family and associates... (and was) found involved in bribery, corruption and money laundering activities".
Rajiv Kumar, assistant director of ED, who filed the affidavit, said that Kapoor's bail plea "be treated with abundant caution and due application of mind as economic offences are considered as grave offences".