ED registers money laundering case against Subhash Chandra

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) 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), officials said on Monday.

Chandra is alleged to have inflated his net worth to avail loans from LICHFL and then defaulted on them. The officials said the case has been filed under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), taking cognisance of a CBI FIR.

Responding to the charges, a spokesperson for Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd (Z) said the ED filed the case against Chandra in his personal capacity and has no bearing on the company or its operations.

“The company would like to state that the matters pertain to Dr Subhash Chandra and the promoter entities and have no bearing on 'Z' or its operations in any manner," the spokesperson said.

The CBI had earlier filed a case on the complaint of LICHFL, based on which the ED registered the money laundering case.

The LICHFL, in its complaint, which is part of the CBI FIR, alleged that Chandra submitted net-worth certificates used to secure the approval and disbursal of two loans totalling Rs 980 crore. According to the LICHFL's complaint in August, the default on these loans caused a loss of ₹1,322 crore.

The 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 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 complaint, 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, the FIR alleged.

According to the lender, the net-worth certification submitted by Chandra was issued by DJM and Co on March 28, 2018, certifying his net worth around ₹59,000 crore.

The LICHFL said 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.

The two loans subsequently went into default, according to LICHFL.

The CBI complaint says that during the 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 FIR says.

"Subhash Chandra had thus, acting in collusion with the borrowers, Vasant Sagar Properties Pvt Ltd, Pan India Infraprojects Pvt Ltd, Digital Subscriber Management and Consultancy Services Pvt. Ltd, and Spirit Infrapower and Multiventures Pvt Ltd and their officers and directors, defrauded and cheated LICHFL into advancing the loans to the borrower entities, which have since misappropriated the same," the FIR alleges.

It accuses the former Rajya Sabha MP of creating false documents to denote inflated and false net worth to cheat LICHFL into deploying funds to the principal borrowers.