Troubled Dewan Housing Finance Corporation Ltd (DHFL) reported a new fraud of ₹ 1,058.32 crore based on an additional report submitted by Grant Thornton.
“The preliminary estimate included in the three applications combined, places the monetary impact of the transactions in question at approximately ₹ 1,058.32 crore (which includes ₹ 18.47 crore towards the notional loss of interest due to the charging of a lower interest rate)”, DHFL said in a regulatory filing Sunday.
According to the report of Grant Thornton, who is the transaction auditor, the administrator of DHFL filed three applications with the Mumbai court of the National Court of Company Law on December 12, the company said.
The first request concerns disbursements made by DHFL to certain borrowers, including El Dorado Biotech, Fortune Broking Intermediary, Fortune Gilts and Black Rock Financial Services, in the form of a loan against the property. This was used for the premature redemption of NCD held by some other entities. This transaction took place during April and August 2019 and involves ₹ 592 crore towards an exceptional beginning, according to the report.
The second request is to divert excess funds from the DHFL account for “alleged consideration” toward the company’s purchase of NAPHA property. The excess amount paid for the purchase was ₹ 330.31 crore. Subsequently, the funds were diverted to entities linked to the promoters and former directors of DHFL. According to the report, this took place during the period 2009-10 to 2016-17.
The third request concerns DHFL’s intercompany deposits to Shrem Investments and Shrem Construction and the execution of a pledge agreement under which DHFL’s NCDs committed to guaranteeing due repayment of the ICDs, which occurred in 2018- 19. This implies ₹ 71 crore towards the exceptional start.
All three applications have been filed against 34 respondents, including Kapil Wadhawan and Dheeraj Wadhawan.
In early September, a forensic audit by Grant Thornton of DHFL matters had uncovered fraudulent transactions of more than 17 billion rupees, including approximately 14,046 crore, as the amount outstanding on the company’s books as of June 30. 2019 and additionally Rs 3,348 crore is the amount considered due and outstanding for the notional loss
