YES Bank is planning to conduct a fresh forensic probe into a few of its top accounts that have either turned NPAs or declared fraudulent. The private sector lender is likely to get a digital forensic audit and asset tracing investigation into such top 10 accounts that include companies of ADAG Group, Essel Group, Essar Group and Cox & Kings.
In August, YES Bank CEO Prashant Kumar had hinted towards a planned approach to deal with the defaulters of the bank.
"We are taking a planned approach towards bad loan recovery, in fact in the coming days you will hear our actions (against defaulters) would have reached such a stage that it would be under public scrutiny, the actions we are taking are confidential so I can't discuss much," The Economic Times reported had reported Kumar as saying last month.
Meanwhile, the government and RBI had replaced the entire board of the lender in March this year and also stopped depositors from accessing their funds for a few days. There were allegations of corporate governance lapses and other practices at Yes Bank which led to financial losses. Thereafter, a new management was installed, restrictions were lifted and it also completed a Rs 15,000-crore capital raise during the coronavirus pandemic.
Addressing the bank's shareholders at its annual general meeting (AGM) held recently, chairman Sunil Mehta had said that the entire payment of Rs 50,000 crore was fully repaid to the RBI which was borrowed under the SLF (special liquidity facility) window. The private sector lender had taken the money amid the financial crisis faced earlier this year.
Also read: ICRA upgrades YES Bank's ratings on improved liquidity situation