The CBI has recovered paintings of Indian maestros FN Souza and SH Raza worth Rs 5.50 crore besides two luxury watches of Jacob and Co and Frank Muller Geneve brands worth Rs 5 crore apart from jewellery worth Rs 2 crore during fresh searches related to India’s biggest bank fraud worth Rs 34,615 crore, involving DHFL.
SH Raza’s oil-on-canvas painting titled “Village” of 1956 vintage worth over Rs 3.50 crore and FN Souza’s 1964-untitled oil-on-linen creation valued at Rs 2 crore were among the luxurious items worth Rs 12.5 crore seized by the agency during the latest round of searches against DHFL promoters Kapil Wadhawan and others, according to the CBI.
The agency has also seized two luxury watches of Jacob and Co and Frank Muller Geneve brands worth Rs 5 crore during the searches.
The DHFL promoters had acquired these expensive items using the diverted funds, the agency said in a statement.
Sources said they purchased these paintings from a noted art auction house at Fort in Mumbai, officials said.
After coming to know where these items were kept, the CBI conducted searches and seized the assets, they said. The CBI also recovered gold and diamond jewellery, including bangles and necklaces worth Rs 2 crore, the agency said. About 20 days back, the CBI had recovered Tyeb Mehta’s painting ‘Bull’ worth over Rs 27 crore and an untitled piece by Manjit Bawa estimated to be valued at over Rs 7.7 crore. Mehta and Bawa’s pieces were among a large number of paintings and sculptures, altogether valued at Rs 40 crore, cash and incriminating documents seized, the CBI had said in a statement.
“During the investigation, it was found the promoters had allegedly diverted the funds and made investments in various entities. It was also alleged that the promoters had acquired expensive paintings and sculptures using the diverted funds,” it had said.
The federal probe agency had booked Dewan Housing Finance Ltd. (DHFL), the Wadhawan brothers , and others on June 20 in a bank fraud case worth Rs 34,615 crore, making it the biggest such under probe by the agency, officials said. They had allegedly cheated a consortium of 17 banks led by Union Bank of India by siphoning off Rs 34,615 crore bank loans by diverting them using falsified account books of DHFL. They allegedly used shell companies and a parallel accounting system known as ‘Bandra Books’ to siphon off public funds in DHFL by disbursing money to fictitious entities as retail loans.
The CBI acted on a complaint from Union Bank of India, the leading bank of the consortium which had extended credit facilities to the tune of Rs 42,871 crore to DHFL between 2010 and 2018. The bank has alleged that the Wadhawans in criminal conspiracy with others misrepresented and concealed facts, and committed a criminal breach of trust to cheat the consortium by defaulting on loan repayments from May 2019 onwards.
The audit of DHFL account books showed that the company allegedly committed financial irregularities, diverted funds, fabricated books, and round-tripped funds to “create assets for Kapil and Dheeraj Wadhawan” using public money. It was further alleged that separate audits conducted by other private audit accounting organisations had identified multiple instances of diversion of funds by the accused for personal benefits and falsification of books of accounts to camouflage and conceal dubious transactions. The audits also identified several instances where large value loans were provided to such fictitious entities without due diligence and without securities. Instances of sanction and disbursement of loans, merely by e-mail communications were allegedly found for which no loan files were maintained in DHFL. Earlier, searches were conducted at various locations in Mumbai at the premises of the accused which led to recovery of incriminating documents.