New Delhi: Real estate firm DB Realty today denied any involvement in the kickbacks-for-loans scam unearthed at LIC Housing Finance, asserting that it followed the rules and is willing to help the CBI in the investigation process.

“DB Realty has followed the rule of the law in raising the money from LIC Housing Finance. The company did hire a consultant and the transaction is transparent,” Chairman Vinod Goenka said in a late-night statement.

He further stated, “The company will fully cooperate with the CBI, but pursue all legal steps to clear its name.”

The statement comes after the company’s name cropped up during the CBI probe into the kickbacks-for-loans scam. According to the CBI, DB Realty had secured a loan of Rs 200 crore by fraudulent means.

Probing into the kickbacks-for-loans scam, the CBI had earlier in the day claimed that private realty companies were aware of the fraudulent measures through which loans were secured for them from LIC Housing Finance and indicated that it may register a fresh case against some of these firms.

During the course of investigations into the multi-crore LIC Housing Finance scam, the CBI claimed to have found some documents and statements that were indicative of some of these private realty companies were well-aware of malpractices in the loan sanction process.

On November 24, the CBI arrested LIC Housing Finance CEO Ramchandra Nair, LIC Secretary (Investment) Naresh Chopra, Bank of India (Delhi) General Manager R N Tayal, Central Bank of India Director Maninder Singh Johar and Punjab National Bank (Delhi) Deputy GM Venkoba Gujjal in connection with the case.

The agency has also arrested Rajesh Sharma, the Chairman and Managing Director of city-based Money Matters, and two of his employees — Sanjay Sharma and Suresh Gattani.

According to the CBI, the LIC and bank officials colluded with Sharma’s firm to sanction large loans to real estate developers, ignoring the mandatory due diligence required for such approvals. In addition, they were also gathering confidential business information from financial institutions.

“We are examining loan details of all the 21 beneficiary companies. Irregularities were found in the papers of certain realty companies. These companies were aware of fraudulent measures undertaken by Rajesh Sharma to secure the loans,” a senior CBI official said.

All the documents and a final report have been sent to the CBI’s headquarters in New Delhi for approval to lodge a separate case against these companies, the official said.

According to the CBI, DB Realty had secured a loan of Rs 200 crore from LIC Housing Finance, while Lavasa had got a loan of Rs 400 crore. The CBI claimed that Nair was given Rs 45 lakh by Rajesh Sharma in November last year to sanction the loan to DB Realty.

source: Yahoo finance

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