Ubiquitous Mhatre locked in Chanda Kochhar family enterprise

New Delhi As one goes deeper and deeper into the concentric circle of rot left behind by the Kochhars the revelations are confounding La Familia was never of this magnitude and its bedrock couldnt have been open and naked cronyism to this degree Paper trails always have a missing link The missing link leads you to the destination in this case helps connecting the dotsIn Brothers Kochhars case the missing link is Sharad Mhatre In hot pursuit of the paper trail of family enterprise IANS has now found that two investment companies Elegant Investrade Pvt Ltd and Daisy Finvest were used by the Kochhars to further their business interests Elegant was incorporated on January 29 1997 by Ms Savita Naik and Mr Sidharth Jadhav for Rs 20Sometime in 1997 it was acquired by Anand Mohan Dalwani a resident of 6 B Prem Kutir 177 Backbay Reclamation Marine Drive Mumbai20 The same year Banque Indo Suez later known as Calyon Bank one of the key lenders to Credential Finance Ltd CFL filed company petition No 265 of 1997 before the Bombay High Court for winding up of CFL for their failure to repay the loan and the appointment of a liquidatorTo cut to the chase during the pendency of this case on December 31 1997 Elegant entered into a deed of assignment with HDFC Bank through which it acquired the rights on the assets pledged by paying Rs 275 crore It remains a mystery as to how a company incorporated with just Rs 20 managed to execute this deed by forking out Rs 275 crore No details are available with RoC Registrar of Companies on this turn of good fortuneThe provisional liquidator who was appointed by the court on March 7 2003 and on March 18 2008 as official liquidator also took over CFLs office at Maker Chambers V Elegant steps in again at this point and files a company application No 837 of 2008 in company petition No 265 of 1997 seeking direction to the official liquidator to remove the seal of closure of the said office premises CFL agreed to pay Rs 40 lakh in three instalments to the Banque and paid another Rs 15 lakh on March 2 2009On July 24 2009 the court ordered the official liquidator to release the same office observing that Elegant was the bona fide purchaser Elegant is another front of the Kochhars the shares have changed hands and are now owned by Quality Advisors Trust Anand Dalwani with 9999 equity shares of Rs 10 each and Sharad Mhatre with 1 share were replaced by Quality Advisors on October 4 2016 in the first tranche taking over Dalwanis 9999 shares and on March 31 2017 the balance 1 share was taken from MhatreOver time the paid up capital of this company has remained at Rs 1 lakh but between FY 2003 to FY 2011 the company has shown share application money of Rs 260 crore and loans as nil When new rules kicked in 2011 from FY 2012 onwards Elegant started showing unsecured loans amounting to Rs 891 crore in FY12 and Rs 565 crore in 2017As it happens this Sharad Mhatre is on the board of directors of Kochhar companies Supreme Energy NuPower Wind Farms Credential Securities Credential Capital Services Daisy Finvest et al In Daisy Finvest Sharad Mhatre has been on the board since August 21 2006 Daisy was typically created on December 20 1996 by Santosh Jabare and Chandra Prakash Soni with a paid up capital of Rs 20In 2004 a Jaipal S Bhatia purchased the company and the authorised capital and paid up capital was ramped up to Rs 1 lakh In 2006 Daisy found new buyers in Pacific Capital Services Pvt Ltd 91 per cent owned by Neelam Mahesh Advani wife of Mahesh Advani brother of Chanda KochharBetween FY March 2004 till March 2010 the company has shown Rs 499 crore funds Rs 1 lakh paid up equity Rs 425 crore share application money and Rs 7343 lakh unsecured loans From 2011 onwards the mystery sets in as the share application money evaporates and instead unsecured loans crop up This ranged between Rs 636 crore and Rs 1062 croreThen comes the clincher in a board meeting on August 31 2017 a proposal to amalgamate the company with Credential Securities was approved The road ends with the KochharsCredential Securities was incorporated on April 15 1994 by Deepak and Rajiv Kochhar at an investment of Rs 200 In January 2015 the authorised capital was raised from Rs 25 lakh to about Rs 101 crore On January 12 2015 the company issued 10 lakh equity shares of Rs 10 each to Dubaibased NRI Jaiprakash KarnaSubsequently these shares were transferred to his wife Varuna Karna Chanda Kochhars sister As on March 31 2017 the accumulated losses of the company were Rs 5799 lakh up from Rs 5737 lakh on March 31 2015 when Karna made the investment Incidentally Jaiprakash Karna also set up two companies Emsol Innovation and Emjay Enterprises both based in ChennaiIt doesnt end there this wheel comes full circle with an examination of the Kochhar familys business interests where the final pitstop uncovers a man called Sharad Shankar Mhatre and his strong linkages with the family and multiple directorships in their companies One such company is Opel Properties where Mhatre has been a director since June 21 2006Neither Rajiv or Deepak Kochhar are directors in Opel though Started in July 2003 by Jaipal Ajit Singh Bhatia and Amit Chimanlal Shah with Rs 1 lakh as paid up capital and Rs 2 lakh as authorised capital the company changed ownership in 2006 with ubiquitous Pacific Capital Services taking overIt is here that the company ownership takes a curious turn since PCSPL is 91 per cent owned by Neelam Mahesh Advani Chanda Kochhars sister in law During 2005 and 2006 Opels capital jumped to Rs 631 crore on March 31 2006 from just a meagre Rs 1 lakh on March 31 2005 This remained steadfast for the next seven yearsIn FY 201415 Opel obtained unsecured loans of Rs 1129 crore To trace the origins of the MhatreKochhar connection one needs to go back to Elegant Investrade Pvt Ltd where Sharad Mhatre is a director In his application to the company he has described his profession as serviceElegant Investrade is believed to be a front for the Kochhars The ownership has changed hands and gone to a trust called Quality Advisors Trust It is alleged that the assets of NuPower Kochhars renewable empire are held by Pinnacle Energy a trust whose beneficiaries are Kochhars This is the modus operandi used by them for wealth succession and retaining a veil of secrecy over their assetsOn doing a deeper dive it is revealed that Mhatre Director Identification No 00921939resident of G 1 L Narayan Niwas PSHBPalkar Marg Parel Mumbai 12 is also a director in NuPower Wind Farms Ltd Credential Securities Pvt Ltd Credential Capital Services Pvt Ltd Daisy Finvest Pacific Capital Services Pvt Ltd all seemingly with a Kochhar connect he is also a director in Nemani Capitals Pvt Ltd Opel Properties Pvt Ltd with a Chanda Kochhar family connect Mandeep Software Services Pvt Ltd and Supreme Energy Pvt LtdIn Nemani Capitals Mhatre is a director since August 29 2008 while in Mandeep Software Services he has been a director since August 26 2008 along with Neelam Mahesh Advani Chanda Kochhars brother Maheshs wife Mhatre is also a director in Ruplila Steels Citius Power and Citius Energy which have both been struck off in the post DeMo drive against errant shell companiesCatch up on all the latest Crime National International and Hatke news here Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get latest updates