Yes Bank crisis: New management’s lies ruined the bank I built, says Rana Kapoor

Rana Kapoor, the disgraced co-founder of Yes Bank, has blamed the new management that took charge after his exit from the bank for the failure of the private sector lender.

A special court on March 11 extended the Enforcement Directorate (ED) custody of Kapoor, who was arrested on charges of money laundering, until March 16.

Speaking to the media immediately after the extension of ED custody by the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court, Kapoor criticised the new management for the collapse of Yes Bank.

"The new management made false statements abundantly and... those are the lies which ruined the bank, the bank I built. Go and talk to Ravneet Gill,” he said.

On Wednesday, the ED also interrogated Gill and the youngest daughter of Kapoor for more than seven hours.

Kapoor also said that he was in touch with the Reserve Bank of India. But he did not say how long he was in touch with the central bank.

However, his lawyer, Satish Maneshinde, argued in court that negotiations were happening between the RBI, the Finance Ministry and Kapoor and the ministry made him the scapegoat for irregularities at Yes Bank. “My client (Kapoor) has never been charge-sheeted in his life even for a traffic violation,” he told the court.

The ED mentioned in its remand copy that 78 companies linked to Kapoor and his family are under the scanner.

While seeking his custody, the agency told the court that loans worth Rs 30,000 crore were given to various entities when Kapoor was on the bank's panel. "Of this, Rs 20,000 crore turned into bad debts. We need to be probe in great detail how the money has travelled," the agency told the court, adding that quid pro quo and fund diversion need to be investigated.

Maneshinde further argued that Yes Bank’s non-performing assets were only one percent when Kapoor left the company and its market cap has gone down to Rs 5000 crore from Rs 93,000 crore after his departure.

Yes Banks investment in DHFL debentures was between April 2018 and June 2018. DHFL’s first tranche of the loan was given in 2017.

Maneshinde argued that Kapoor had repaid the first two loans taken by firms belonging to his daughters. The first loan was taken in February 2017.