Dewan Housing Finance Corporation Ltd (DHFL), to be acquired by Piramal Group, on Monday said its transaction auditor Grant Thornton has reported another fraudulent transaction of Rs 6,182 crore ($853 million) in the company.
The administrator of DHFL appointed under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code said that, going by the auditor, there are certain transactions which are "undervalued, fraudulent and preferential in nature”.
On the basis of the investigation of the auditor, the administrator filed an application before the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) on Saturday.
The application was in respect of disbursement made to certain entities as Other Large Project Loans (OLPLs) against Kapil Wadhawan, Dheeraj Wadhawan, Creatoz Builders Pvt. Ltd, Ikshudip Fincap Pvt. Ltd, Rite Developers Pvt Ltd and others
The estimated amount involved in these transactions is Rs 6,182.11 crore (which includes Rs 210.85 crore as notional loss of interest).
“As per the report shared with the administrator, the monetary impact of the above transactions covered under the application amounts to Rs 5,381.90 crore towards outstanding principal, Rs 589.36 crore towards accrued interest and Rs 210.85 crore towards notional loss of interest on account of charging lower rate of interest," DHFL said in a filing.
This is the second fraud case reported against DHFL promoters.
In September last year, DHFL’s administrator had first filed a case of fraud worth Rs 12,705 crore ($1.7 billion) against the promoters.
The latest fraud got unearthed just days after the non-banking financial company (NBFC) recently got the central bank’s approval to be acquired by Piramal Capital and Housing Finance under the insolvency process.
DHFL was one of the first financial companies to enter bankruptcy in November 2019. Last month, the Committee of Creditors (CoC) voted in favour of the resolution plan submitted by Piramal Capital, beating investor rival and American asset management company Oaktree Capital.