Indiabulls Housing Accused of Misappropriation of Public Money

The petition has alleged that funds worth thousands of crores were siphoned off from public money by Indiabulls.

Mortgage lenders Dewan Housing Finance Corporation Ltd and Indiabulls Housing Finance Ltd blamed rumours for the sudden plunge in shares on a day the benchmark Sensex swung the most in more than four years.

(Photo: BloombergQuint)

The Indiabulls Housing Finance Ltd (IHFL) on Wednesday, 12 June, moved the Supreme Court, seeking urgent listing of a plea filed against it, in which it has been alleged that the company misappropriated Rs 98,000 crore of public money.

Senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, appearing for the company, mentioned the matter for urgent listing before a vacation bench comprising justices Indira Banerjee and Ajay Rastogi.

Singhvi told the bench that frivolous allegations have been leveled against the company in the petition and the plea was leaked to the media.

He said that due to the media reports regarding filing of the petition against the company, IHFL has incurred loss of around Rs 7,000 crore of its market share.

The bench said it would take a decision during the course of the day about listing of the plea.

The petition has alleged that funds worth thousands of crores were siphoned off by Sameer Gehlaut, the chairman of the firm, and the directors of Indiabulls for their personal use.

Abhay Yadav, the petitioner and one of IHFL’s shareholders, has alleged that Gehlaut, with the help of Harish Fabiani – an NRI based in Spain – created multiple “shell companies” to which IHFL loaned huge sums of money under “bogus and non-existent pretexts”.

These companies further transferred the loan amount to other companies, which were either run, directed or operated by Gehlaut, his family members or other directors of Indiabulls, the plea has alleged.

It has also sought directions to the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), the Centre, Reserve Bank of India (RBI), Income Tax Department or the competent authority to restore, protect and conserve the defrauded and misappropriated investors' money.

The plea has further claimed that Gehlaut and his wife have also been involved in taking kickbacks from his alleged borrowers and misled the regulating authorities.

It has said that while building the dummy and shell companies, around Rs 1,700 crores from unknown sources were used, which was illegal and forbidden by the Prevention of Money Laundering Act.