ED Takes Yes Bank Founder For Questioning

The founder of Yes Bank Rana Kapoor was taken to theEnforcement Directorate's (ED) to the Ballard Pier office in South Mumbai forquestioning on Saturday morning.

The ED on Friday raided Kapoor's residence and carriedout searches a day after the Reserve Bank of India put Yes Bank under amoratorium and capped withdrawals for its depositors at Rs. 50,000 till April3.

According to reports, the ED seized records anddocuments from his residence and office premises. The agency is investigatingalleged kickbacks received to Rana's close relative over sanctioning of loans.

The ED questioned Kapoor in connection with the bank'sexposure to troubled realty firm Dewan Housing Finance Corporation (DHFL) thatis suspected to have contributed to the bank's ballooning non-performing assetsand which led to the RBI's intervention on Thursday.

Another probe is on by the ED regarding a moneylaundering case against DHFL which is accused of siphoning off around Rs 13,000crore with the help of 79 fictitious companies and one lakh fictitiouscustomers.

The RBI set aside Yes Bank's board late Thursday and appointed an administrator Prashant Kumar, the ex-chief financial officer of the State Bank of India (SBI) to run its affairs for the next 30 days, during which a plan to revive the stressed bank will be put in action.

Inanother development on Saturday, State Bank of India's Chairman Rajnish Kumarsaid SBI has received the plan on Yes Bank restructuring and is conducting duediligence and will revert to the RBI by Monday.

Under the government's rescue plan, SBI – the country's largest lender by assets – will pick up a 49 percent stake in Yes Bank.