There are continuous new revelations about the decaying Dewan Housing Finance Limited (DHFL). Enforcement Directorate is investigating the company's alleged relationship with Iqbal Mirchi, an associate of underworld don Dawood Ibrahim. Meanwhile, a forensic audit by KPMG has revealed that DHFL has given a loan of Rs 14,000 crore to about 25 such group companies, whose average profit has been only Rs 1 lakh.
That is, there is a big game in it, these can be shell companies. According to the business newspaper Mint, the draft report of the audit of KPMG has been shared with the Committee of Creditors (CoC) of DHFL last week. After it is finalized, the Board of Mortgage Lender will be introduced.
In February this year, the Finance Ministry had instructed the three major banks lending to DHFL – Bank of Baroda, State Bank of India and Union Bank of India to conduct a forensic audit of the alleged allegations of fund manipulation in the company. In a sting of the news portal Cobrapost, it was alleged that the company has sanctioned large loans without giving necessary information to the Corporate Ministry. The promoter of the company, the Wadhawan family, has been accused of rigging the funds on a large scale by creating a network of shell companies for their personal benefits. It is alleged that there is a scam of about 31,000 crores in this entire game.
Forensic audit has revealed that the outstanding debt of the company on the above 25 groups is about Rs 13,000 crore. Of these, loans worth Rs 7,000 crore given to 15 companies were not converted into non-performing assets (NPAs), while their dues have been pending for a long time. These group companies have invested around Rs 4,000 crore for the purchase of preference shares of some other companies.
Another disclosure has been that out of the Rs 27,000 crore loan that DHFL has taken from banks to take home loans to its customers, about Rs 10,050 crore has been invested in mutual funds. Significantly, as of July 6, the total debt over DHFL was Rs 83,873 crore, of which Rs 38,000 crore is to be given to banks.
Recently, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) has raided the DHFL bases. The raids have been conducted at different locations of DHFL in Mumbai. It is alleged that DHFL has business links with Sunblink Real Estate Company. Accordingly, DHFL had given a loan of Rs 2,186 crore to the real estate company. The loan was transferred to Iqbal Mirchi, a close aide of underworld don Dawood Ibrahim. Sunblink Real Estate is also under investigation in this case. However, the ED is looking for evidence based on documents and other evidence.
ED's tightness has increased at a time when DHFL has recently announced the first quarter results for the current financial year ending June. According to this, the company has a loss of Rs 242.48 crore in the June quarter. In the April-June period of the previous financial year, the company had a net profit of Rs 431.71 crore. The total income of the company decreased to Rs 2,399.84 crore during the period under review. This figure was Rs 3,154.25 crore in the same period of last financial year.
