New Delhi: The Anil Ambani-led Reliance group on Wednesday say that all the loans it had taken from crisis-hit Yes Bank were “fully secured” and had been taken out in the ordinary course of business.The group’s statement comes days after finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s press conference, where, in lashing out at allegations made by the Congress party, said that many stressed corporate groups that had borrowed from Yes Bank had done so prior to 2014.“The exposure of Yes Bank to some of the very stressed corporates has been before 2014. These are public domain names and I am not violating any customer privacy — Anil Ambani (Group), Essel Group, DHFL, IL&FS (and) Vodafone are some of the very stressed corporates to whom Yes Bank has been exposed,” the finance minister had said.The Anil Ambani-led group has now stated it has no “direct or indirect exposure” to Yes Bank’s co-founder Rana Kapoor or any entities controlled by his family, and that it is committed to honouring all loan repayments.“…Entire exposure to YES Bank is fully secured and transacted in the ordinary course of business. Reliance Group is committed to honor repayments of all its borrowings from YBL through its various asset monetization programmes which are all at advanced stages,” the corporate house’s statement noted.Rs 20,000 crore bad loansMeanwhile, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Wednesday told a special court that Kapoor had sanctioned loans worth Rs 30,000 crore to various entities during his tenure as its chief out of which Rs 20,000 crore turned into bad debts.The ED made the submission to a special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court in Mumbai which extended till March 16 the agency’s custody of Kapoor.Kapoor, 62, former MD and CEO of the private bank, was arrested by the ED in Mumbai on Sunday under provisions of the PMLA as he was allegedly not cooperating in the probe.He was earlier remanded in the ED custody till March 11. As his remand ended on Wednesday, he was produced before special court judge P.P. Rajvaidya.Also read: How Yes Bank’s Finances Quickly, and Surprisingly, Deteriorated Over the Last 3 YearsThe court extended his ED custody till March 16 as the agency had sought the remand for further probe.While seeking his custody, the ED told the court that loans worth Rs 30,000 crore were given to various entities during Kapoor’s tenure.“Of this, Rs 20,000 crore turned into bad debts. We need to probe in great detail how the money has travelled,” the agency submitted.Rana Kapoor is facing probe from the ED and the CBI over allegations he received kickbacks through scam-hit Dewan Housing Finance Corporation Limited’s (DHFL) Rs 600 crore loan to a family-owned company.The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) last week imposed a moratorium on the capital-starved Yes Bank, capping withdrawals at Rs 50,000 per account, and superseded the board of the private sector lender with immediate effect.(With inputs from PTI)
