The CBI has filed a closure reportin a case registered in 2021 against DHFL and its promoters concerning 2.60 lakh fictitious home loan accounts, some of which were used to claim interest subsidies under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY).
After over three vears of investigation, the agency could not find evidence suggesting a criminal conspiracy thar could have led to the creation of such accounts. The agency has submitted its final report to a special court in Delhi, which will decide whether to accept the closure report or order further investigation.
The scheme PMAY – Mission Housing for All – was announced by the Central Government of India in October 2015. The scheme is managed by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development. Under the scheme, loans granted to members of the Economically Weaker Sections and Lowand Middle-Income groups for buying land and constructing houses, developing dwelling units under slum redevelopment schemes, or purel ing housing units from private and public housing companies/boards are eligible fora credit-linked interest subsidy.
The interest subsidy ranges from 3% to 6.5% per annum and is payable upfront, with a cap of T2,30,156 to ¥2,67.280. depending on the borrower’s category. The maximum loan amount eligible under the scheme is 24 lakh. The subsidv is claimed by financing institutions from the National Housing Bank, which is reimbursed by the Government of India from Union Budget allocations.
Dewan Housing Finance Limited (DHFL) is one such housing finance company that granted loans under PMAY, In an investor call with institutional investors and analysts, DHFL itself claimed that, as of December 2018, it had processed 88,651 cases under the PMAY scheme.
It received ¥539.40 crore as aninterest subsidy and had a further %1,347.80 crore pending, amounting to a total of ¥1,887.20 crore from the Government of India on loans disbursed under the scheme, the CBI stated in its FIR. A forensic report by the auditor firm M/s Grant Thornton, appointed by DHFL’s new board, revealed that DHFL’s promoters, Kapil ‘Wadhawan and his brother Dheeraj ‘Wadhawan, had created a fictitious Bandra Branch of DHFL.
This branch was used to create fake housing loan accounts for borrowers who had already repaid their loans. Between 2007 and 2019, a total of 2.60 lakh fake and fictitious home loan accounts were created in this non-existent branch, amounting to loans worth ¥14,046 crore, of which %11,755.79 crore was allegedly deposited/ routed to several fictitious firms, referred to as Bandra Book firms, according to the report
