Anil Ambani ED Questioning: No Lawyer, Session To Be Recorded, Say Sources

Reliance Group chairman Anil Ambani is being questioned at probe agency Enforcement Directorate's office in New Delhi in connection with an alleged Rs 17,000 crore worth bank loan fraud-linked money laundering case.

Sources say Mr Ambani will not be allowed to have a lawyer present with him during questioning and the entire questioning session will be recorded on camera. Statements recorded under Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) are admissible in court.

The probe agency on August 1 issued summons to the Reliance Group chairman which came days after the agency searched companies linked to Mr Ambani and recovered a number of documents and computer peripherals from multiple locations.

The probe agency has also written to multiple banks seeking details on the loans sanctioned to his companies, people familiar with the matter told NDTV Profit.

The financial crime-fighting agency has written to 12-13 public-sector and private banks seeking details on due diligence followed on the loans sanctioned to Reliance Housing Finance, Reliance Communications and Reliance Commercial Finance. Details have been sought from the State Bank of India, Axis Bank, ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, UCO and Punjab and Sind Bank, sources said.

Preliminary investigation revealed an illegal loan diversion of around Rs 3,000 crores from Yes Bank (period 2017 to 2019). And later officials found out that Reliance Communications Ltd has also committed a loan fraud of over Rs 14,000 crores.

The raids were launched on July 24 as part of the alleged bank loan fraud-linked money laundering case apart from multiple other allegations of financial irregularities with crores of rupees by certain companies.

The searches, conducted under provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), were held in Delhi and Mumbai for at least three days. These premises belong to 50 companies and 25 people, including a number of executives of the Anil Ambani Group companies. More than 25 individuals were also questioned. 

The agency last week made its first arrest in connection.

Partha Sarathi Biswal, the managing director of Biswal Tradelink Pvt Ltd, was arrested on August 1 under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002, for submitting fake guarantees worth Rs 68.2 crore, sources said. These guarantees, they said, were arranged on behalf of Reliance Power.

A lookout circular has also been issued against Mr Ambani.

The raids were held following the registration of two First Information Reports (FIRs) by the Central Bureau of Investigation. 

Sources in the probe agency earlier said the investigation primarily pertains to allegations of illegal loan diversion of around Rs 3,000 crore, given by the Yes Bank to the group companies of Ambani between 2017-2019.

Enforcement Directorate, the sources said, found that just before the loan was granted, Yes Bank promoters "received" money in their concerns. The agency is investigating this nexus of "bribe" and the loan.

The investigation flagged several red flags, including loans issued to companies with poor or unverified financial sources, use of common directors and addresses across multiple borrowing entities, lack of essential documentation in sanction files, routing of funds to shell entities and instances of "loan evergreening" -- where fresh loans were given to repay existing ones.

Reliance Power and Reliance Infrastructure, two companies of the group, on July 26 informed the stock exchanges saying while they acknowledge the action, the raids had "absolutely no impact" on their business operations, financial performance, shareholders, employees, or any other stakeholders.

This is not the first time the bank has labelled the account as fraudulent. SBI had earlier declared RCom and Mr Ambani as fraud accounts in November 2020 and filed a complaint with the CBI on January 5, 2021. The Delhi High Court issued a status quo order a day later, leading to withdrawal of the complaint.