HDIL promoters Wadhawans write to RBI, investigating agencies to sell their attached assets to repay PMC Bank loans

The father-son duo of HDIL promoters Rakesh and Sarang Wadhawan had written a letter to the Reserve Bank of India on 16 October letter requesting the investigating agencies to sell off their attached assets at the fair market value and start the process of repaying loans it took from Punjab & Maharashtra Cooperative (PMC) Bank, according to media reports.

The Wadhawans, who are the prime accused in the PMC Bank scam, have requested the RBI and investigation agencies to sell off their assets, including a yacht, a Rolls Royce and an aircraft, to pay off the bank's dues.

The Wadhawans, who were remanded in judicial custody by a court on Wednesday, in a letter to the Enforcement Directorate, the Union finance ministry and the RBI, requested that they should be allowed to sell off 18 of their attached assets.

HDIL's Rakesh Wadhawan and Sarang Wadhawan. Image courtesy - CNBC-TV18.

The letter was released by a spokesperson of the Wadhawans.

According to the Mumbai Police's Economic Offences Wing, which first arrested the Wadhawans, the scam at the Punjab & Maharashtra Cooperative Bank is worth Rs 4,355 crore.

"We state that while denying the allegations raised in FIR no. 86/ 2019...solely with the purpose to work towards the resolution of the matter in the interest of depositors which was also communicated vide our earlier letters dated 30 September, 2019, 1 October, 2019 and 3 October, 2019 sent to (ministry of Finance, Reserve bank of India), we request you to immediately take steps to sell the assets mentioned below... and adjust it towards the principal of the loans taken by the respective companies which own the assets...," the letter signed by the arrested father and son duo read, according to a PTI report.

The assets listed in the letter include ultra-luxury cars such as a Rolls Royce Phantom, Bentley Continental, a BMW 730 LD, as well as a humble Ambassador, owned by Rakesh Wadhawan.

It also lists assets owned by Sarang, Rakesh's son, including a Falcon 2000 Aircraft, Audi AG, a FerrttiYacht 881, two electric cars, three Quad Bikes (ATV) and speed boat (Dolphin super deluxe 31HT, 7 seater).

"It is in the larger public interest that the assets are disposed of so as to mitigate the present situation," said the letter.

ED seeks custody of Wadhawans

The Enforcement Directorate on Wednesday sought custody of the Wadhawans in connection with the Rs 4,355 crore PMC Bank scam.

Real estate firm Housing Development Infrastructure Ltd's (HDIL) chairman and managing director Rakesh Wadhawan and his son were first arrested by the Economic Offences Wing of Mumbai Police in connection with the case, a PTI report said.

The EOW alleged that the bank management, in cahoots with the Wadhawans, concealed from the banking regulators' scrutiny huge loan defaults by the HDIL group firms.

The bank officials replaced 44 loan accounts of HDIL with 21,049 fictitious accounts to camouflage huge loan defaults by the real estate group, it said.

The Wadhawan duo, along with another accused, the bank's former chairman Waryam Singh, were produced before Metropolitan Magistrate S G Shaikh as their custody ended on Wednesday. The court remanded them in judicial custody till 23 October.

--With inputs from agencies