A special court under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) has issued a letter of request to the US Department of Justice, Washington, for attaching an apartment in New York owned by Dewan Housing Finance Corporation Limited (DHFL)’s former promoters Kapil and Dheeraj Wadhawan in the money laundering case concerning Yes Bank and the firm.
The property in question is one located at 123, Washington Street, New York, owned by the brothers. The agency claims it is proceeds of crime under the Act and hence there were orders to provisionally attach it. The ED sought that a letter of request be issued for execution of the provisional attachment orders by taking possession of the property.
A letter of request, or letter rogatory, is sent by the court of one country to that of another when it needs assistance in investigation or prosecution of a criminal matter. It was issued on Friday upon a plea by the Enforcement Directorate (ED), that is the prosecuting agency in the case. The agency informed the court that there were two provisional attachment orders – one in July 2020 and another in January last year – by the adjudicating authority under the PMLA, New Delhi.
Special PMLA Judge MG Deshpande said in the order that the court is satisfied that it is proceeds of crime as defined under the law. It further noted that it had already taken cognisance of the agency’s chargesheet in the case. It is a fit case, Judge Deshpande said, to issue a letter of request to the court or an authority in the US for execution of the provisional order.
The case arose from Yes Bank’s former MD and CEO Rana Kapoor allegedly misusing his position to gain financial benefits for him and his family members in exchange for sanctioning huge loans to DHFL through the bank.
