Mumbai: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has issued fresh summons to Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani (ADA) Group chairman Anil Ambani, directing him to appear in person before its Delhi headquarters on Monday, November 17, after rejecting his request for a virtual statement.
Ambani had sent an email to the agency seeking permission to join the proceedings virtually on Friday in response to his earlier summons. However, the financial investigative agency rejected this request. "No virtual appearance will be given to Anil Ambani, as requested," ED officials stated, confirming the agency had received an email from him regarding availability via virtual means.
Anil Ambani, in a media statement, said that he is “willing to offer to appear by virtual means,” adding that he will “fully cooperate with ED probe" being conducted under the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA)
The financial probe agency had summoned Ambani to appear in person on Friday to record his statement under FEMA.
The summons relate to a 15-year-old inquiry into the Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) contract for the Jaipur–Reengus (JR) Highway project, where the ED suspects that around Rs 100 crore was allegedly remitted abroad through the hawala route. According to officials, the ED has already recorded statements of several individuals, including some alleged hawala operators, before summoning Ambani.
On September 30, the ED conducted searches at six premises of Reliance Infrastructure Ltd (RInfra) and one of its former road contractors in Indore and Mumbai, as part of its probe into the alleged illegal remittances.
The current FEMA case concerns to the Jaipur–Reengus Toll Road, operated by JR Toll Road Pvt Ltd (JRTR), a subsidiary of RInfra under the Reliance ADAG group.In 2010, RInfra had awarded the EPC contract for the 52-km, four-laning stretch of National Highway-11 between Jaipur and Reengus in Rajasthan to Prakash Asphaltings & Toll Highways (India) Limited (PATH Group). The project was completed in 2013, RInfra clarified that this was a one-time domestic project and it has no ongoing relationship with PATH. The ED investigation is focused on alleged irregularities in overseas remittances linked to the old EPC contract, forming part of a wider probe into RInfra’s past financial dealings related to the project.
Investigators allege that funds generated from the domestic EPC contract were siphoned off and routed abroad through a complex hawala network. Officials said the alleged method involved inflated project costs, including raw materials, labour and subcontracting, with the surplus allegedly diverted illegally. It is also suspected that parts of the project were subcontracted to other entities, and payments were allegedly routed through Surat-based shell companies before being transferred to Dubai. These entities reportedly had little or no legitimate business activity and were allegedly used to create a layered paper trail to conceal the money’s origin.
In a statement issued on November 3, an ED official said: “The search and seizure operation under FEMA in the case of Reliance Infrastructure Ltd found Rs 40 crore siphoned from the Jaipur–Reengus highway project. Funds were moved through Surat-based shell companies to Dubai. The trail has unearthed a wider international hawala network exceeding Rs 600 crore.”
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RInfra, in its response, described the ED action as “dated” and unrelated to foreign exchange, asserting that the EPC contract was “purely domestic” with no foreign exchange component whatsoever. The company also clarified Ambani’s role, stating: “Mr Anil D. Ambani, from April 2007 to March 2022, served as a non-executive director of Reliance Infrastructure and was not involved in day-to-day operations. He is not a member of the current board.”
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