The Enforcement Directorate has registered a money laundering case against media baron Subhash Chandra in connection with an alleged loan fraud that caused a ₹1,322 crore loss to Life Insurance Corporation Housing Finance Limited (LICHFL). According to reports from Business Standard, the case has been filed under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), taking cognisance of a CBI FIR. The CBI had earlier filed a case on the complaint of LICHFL, based on which the ED registered the money laundering case. A comment from Chandra is awaited regarding the case.
As reported by Business Standard, LICHFL alleged that Chandra submitted net-worth certificates used to secure the approval and disbursal of two loans totalling ₹980 crore. The complaint concerns a ₹500 crore facility extended to Vasant Sagar Properties Private Limited, with Pan India Infra Projects Private Limited as the co-borrower, and a ₹480 crore facility extended to Digital Subscriber Management and Consultancy Services Private Limited, with Spirit Infra Power and Multi Ventures Private Limited as the co-borrower. According to the lender, the ₹500 crore Vasant Sagar facility was sanctioned as a home-entity loan for takeover, top-up and business expansion, and secured by a continuing guarantee dated March 28, 2018, executed by Chandra. The ₹480 crore digital facility was sanctioned as a rental-discounting facility under a rental-securitisation scheme through a different loan account, and secured by a continuing guarantee also executed by Chandra.
According to the complaint reported by Business Standard, the digital facility was sanctioned partly on the basis of a net-worth certificate submitted by Chandra, issued by chartered accountants MPJ and Co on July 6, 2018. The certificate put his net worth at ₹40,562 crore. During subsequent proceedings under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016, Chandra denied having the net worth stated in the certificates submitted to LICHFL. During the proceedings, the industrialist pegged his net worth in 2024 at ₹31.79 crore and in 2017-18, at no more than ₹40,000 crore. The two loans subsequently went into default, causing the ₹1,322 crore loss to LICHFL.
As reported by Business Standard, the CBI FIR alleges that Chandra and other accused allegedly misrepresented their financial worth to induce the lender to sanction the loans. The agency is investigating allegations of criminal conspiracy, cheating, criminal breach of trust and misappropriation of loan funds. LICHFL was one of the lenders that approached the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT), opposing a recent NCLT repayment plan allowing creditors to recover only about ₹6.5 crore from Chandra's personal estate against claims of roughly ₹22,006 crore. The FIR names Chandra and eight others, besides unidentified persons and public servants. The CBI is also examining whether any government officials facilitated the alleged fraud and the resulting loss to the public exchequer. The lender has alleged that Chandra, in collusion with the borrower companies and their directors, induced it to disburse the loans through false and inflated documents, with the funds subsequently misappropriated and assets stripped to frustrate recovery efforts.
