Mumbai: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) late on Friday evening arrested Ashok Kumar Pal, Chief financial officer (CFO) of M/s Reliance Power limited and a close aide of businessman Anil Ambani in connection with the alleged money laundering probe linked to Rs 68.2 crore fake bank guarantee racket.
Pal was presented before the special court, Delhi. ED sought Pal’s custody for at least five days for interrogation but was been given only two day's custody. While seeking Pal’s custody, ED has claimed that Pal was directly involved in the forged Bank Guarantee scheme.
Reliance Power says it is a victim of fraud; removes Pal from post
Reliance Power in its statement released on Saturday evening said , “the Company and its subsidiaries acted bonafidely and are a victim of a fraud, forgery and cheating conspiracy.”
The company said Pal has demitted the office of Executive Director and CFO with immediate effect. The company also clarified that Anil Ambani is not on the Board of Reliance Power Limited for the past more than 3.5 years and is not concerned with this matter in any manner.
ED outlines alleged manipulation in SECI tender process
ED claimed that the case pertains to making and deploying the forged Bank Guarantees, forged Bank Guarantee endorsements/ Structured Financial Messaging System (SFMS) confirmations which were to be submitted to Solar Energy Corporation of India Limited (SECI) in order to manipulate the tender process and defraud the public at large.
It is claimed that SECI had floated a tender in June 2024, for 1000 MW/2000 MWh Standalone Battery Energy Storage System, requiring bids with an Earnest Money Deposit (EMD) of Rs.68.20 Crores via Bank Guarantee (BG).
The agency claimed that, Reliance Power, through its subsidiary M/s Reliance NU BESS Limited, allegedly devised a scheme to secure the tender by submitting fake foreign BGs issued by foreign banks and with the forged Indian bank endorsements.
Alleged role of intermediaries and shell firms
The forged Bank Guarantees was allegedly obtained by engaging Partha Sarathi Biswal and his shell company M/s Biswal Tradelink Private Limited, as intermediaries, ED claimed adding that Reliance Group entity namely M/s Rosa Power Supply Company Limited routed substantial funds to the tune of Rs 6.33 Crores to M/s Biswal Tradelink Private Limited for this purpose.
The agency claimed that Pal was one of the principal architects of the money laundering scheme. He is alleged to have directly supervised and coordinated the arrangement of the fraudulent Bank Guarantee of Rs 68.20 Crores for M/s Reliance NU BESS Limited in the SECI tender, ED claimed.
It is alleged that Pal engaged Biswal and also decided terms and conditions, including the payment terms, with M/s Biswal Tradelink Private Limited. Further Pal agreed to pay exorbitant commission to the tune of Rs 5.40 Crores, which was approximately 7.92% of BG value to M/s Biswal Tradelink Private Limited, a little-known shell entity operating out of a residential address, with no credible track record in financial services, ED claimed.
Forged documents traced after SECI’s discovery
Besides, the agency claimed, after SECI discovered that the Bank Guarantee, its endorsements and SFMS confirmations submitted by M/s Reliance NU BESS Limited were fake, Pal actively engaged with intermediaries in meetings and follow-ups.
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It is claimed that he attended discussions in Kolkata with Partha Sarathi Biswal, Amar Nath Dutta, Shiv Sankar Das and others, pushing for fresh forged endorsements and SFMS confirmations using the same fake Bank Guarantee number purportedly from FirstRand Bank, Manila, Philippines.
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