ED arrests CFO, internal auditor of Cox and Kings in YES Bank loan case

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) today arrested Anil Khandelwal, Chief Finance Officer of Cox and Kings Group (CKG), and Naresh Jain, internal auditor of the company, under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 (PMLA) in the YES Bank loan fraud case.

Both the accused were produced before the Special Judge (PMLA) and they were sent to 7-day ED custody.

The ED investigation has found that CKG forged consolidated financial statements by manipulating the balance sheets of overseas subsidiaries, and also some board resolutions submitted to banks for sanctioning loans. Loans sanctioned to group companies were diverted through non-existent companies, subsidiaries and related entities.

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ED investigations have detected anomalies between bank transactions and books of accounts of Cox and Kings Group. Anil Khandelwal and Naresh Jain were found responsible for these anomalies.

Investigations have revealed that the all loans sanctioned by YES Bank to CKG group were under the instruction of the lender's former CMD Rana Kapoor, who allowed the loan sanctions by bypassing the norms. While loans to CKG group continued to be sanctioned, no efforts were taken to recover the same.

Total loan given to the group by YES Bank stands at Rs 3,642 crore. Investigation further revealed that the Cox & Kings Group showed sales of Rs 3,908 crore to 15 non-existent or fictitious customers from 2014-2015 to 2018-2019. Majority of collection shown in ledgers from Ezeego (another group entity of CKG) was not found in the bank statements. Also, there are 15 high-value 'fictious' debtors in the books of accounts. Another 147 customers also appeared to be suspicious and non-existent.

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Cox & King Limited (CKL) has diverted Rs 1,100 Crore to another stressed company without any approval of board which has no business relationship with the company.

It was also found that Anil Khandelwal and Naresh Jain purchased various immovable properties from the funds diverted from Cox & Kings Group. The two also acquired a mortgaged property amounting Rs 63 crore through a business entity owned by them - Reward Business Solutions - without paying any money.

Further investigation revealed that Rs 150 crore was diverted from Ezeego to Redkite Capital Private Limited, which was promoted by family members of Anil Khandelwal and Naresh Jain.

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