ED asks Rajasthan businessman to depose before it under PMLA in Yes Bank case

Mukesh Ranjan

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, July 23

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Thursday said it has summoned a Rajasthan-based businessman, who is already under scanner for FEMA violation, in connection with its money laundering probe in the Yes Bank case.

Officials in the ED said, Raman Kant Sharma, who is already being investigated by the probe agency on charges of alleged violation of forex laws related to remittance of over Rs 96 crore from Mauritius, has been summoned to appear before the agency in the Yes Bank money laundering case. A separate summon has also been served to him under the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) for questioning, they added.

In the FEMA violation case Sharma’s alleged business links with Vaibhav Gehlot, the son of Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot, is under scanner, as the two had allegedly partnered in a car rental company, the officials said.

The officials said, Sharma has been asked to depose before the investigating officer of the case in Mumbai on July 27 in connection with its Yes Bank money laundering probe. They said Yes Bank had given a loan amounting to Rs 168-crore to Triton Hotels and Resorts in which Sharma is a promoter share-holder.

On his deposition before the Investigating Officer his statement would be recorded under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) in the Yes Bank case, which will help investigators to understand how the hotel group was extended the bank loan, the officials said.

The ED arrested Yes Bank co-founder Rana Kapoor in this case in March along with the Wadhawan brothers, Kapil and Dheeraj Wadhawan, of DHFL, as they have been accused of laundering proceeds of crime, which is worth Rs 4,300 crore by way of alleged kickbacks in lieu of extending big loans that later turned into non-performing assets (NPA).