Mumbai: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) Special Task Force Headquarters has provisionally attached assets worth Rs 1,452.51 crore belonging to the Anil Ambani–led Reliance Communications (RCom) group in a money laundering probe linked to alleged bank fraud. The properties include multiple buildings inside Dhirubhai Ambani Knowledge City (DAKC) and Millennium Business Park in Navi Mumbai, apart from land parcels and structures in Pune, Chennai and Bhubaneswar. The action was taken under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002, the agency said on Thursday.
This is the second major action by the STF this month. Earlier, it attached assets worth Rs 7,545 crore in cases related to RCom, Reliance Commercial Finance Ltd and Reliance Home Finance Ltd. With the latest order, total attachments in these matters have risen to Rs 8,997 crore.
The agency initiated its probe on the basis of a CBI FIR registered against RCom, chairman Anil Ambani and others under sections of the IPC and the Prevention of Corruption Act. According to ED official statement, RCom and its group companies had availed loans from domestic and foreign lenders between 2010 and 2012, of which Rs 40,185 crore remains outstanding. At least nine banks have classified the group’s loan accounts as fraud.
ED investigation revealed that loans taken by one entity from one bank were utilized for repayment of loans taken by other entities from other banks, transfer to related parties, and investments in mutual funds, all in violation of loan-sanction conditions. The agency claimed that RCom and its group firms diverted over Rs13,600 crore for evergreening loans, moved more than Rs 12,600 crore crore was allegedly moved to connected entities and invested over Rs 1,800 crore in fixed deposits and mutual funds, which were later liquidated and rerouted within the group
The agency has also flagged large-scale misuse of bill discounting to funnel funds to connected companies, and alleged that part of the loan proceeds was siphoned abroad through outward remittances.
In the response Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group(ADAG) said that the attached assets belong to Reliance Communications (RCOM), which has not been a part of the Reliance Group since 2019 for the last six years. The company has been undergoing the Corporate Insolvency Resolution Process (CIRP) for over six years. All matters relating to its resolution are currently sub judice before the Hon’ble National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT), and the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India.
The group said all matters related to RCom’s resolution are sub judice before the NCLT and the Supreme Court, and the company is being run by a Resolution Professional under supervision of the NCLT and the Committee of Creditors led by SBI. and a consortium of banks / lenders.
It added that Anil Ambani resigned from RCom in 2019 and has no involvement with the company.
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ADAG also said the attachment order has no material impact on the operations or prospects of Reliance Infrastructure and Reliance Power, which continue to function normally.
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