In a dramatic development, Yes Bank co-founder Rana Kapoor has reportedly alleged that he was ‘forced’ to buy an MF Husain painting from Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra. According to a report by news agency PTI, Kapoor told the Enforcement Directorate that the sale proceeds were utilised by the Gandhi family for the medical treatment of Congress president Sonia Gandhi in New York.
Kapoor’s allegations are part of the chargesheet filed by the financial probe agency into the Rs. 300 crore money-laundering case against the Yes Bank co-founder.
Kapoor, according to the report, the then Union Petroleum Minister Murli Deora had told him that the refusal to buy the MF Husain painting will cost him the Padma Bhushan award.
The crisis in Yes Bank came to limelight in 2020 after the Reserve Bank of India formally suspended the bank’s board of directors and issued a moratorium. The RBI had also imposed a withdrawal limit of Rs 50,000 for customers having their accounts in Yes Bank. Demands had grown for the arrest of Rana Kapoor, who had famously hailed Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s demonetisation announcement calling it a masterstroke.
The RBI later took control of the beleaguered bank.
A special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court in Mumbai granted bail to Kapoor in a Rs. 300 crore money laundering case in February this year.
Priyanka Gandhi Vadra has not reacted to the allegation made by Kapoor in the ED chargesheet.