Probe Agency ED Summons Anil Ambani In Loan Fraud Case

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has summoned Reliance Group chairman Anil Ambani on August 5 for questioning in connection with an alleged Rs 3,000 crore worth bank loan fraud-linked money laundering case.

The summons came days after the probe agency searched companies linked to Mr Ambani and recovered a number of documents and computer peripherals from multiple locations.

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

Also Read | Anil Ambani Bribed Yes Bank Officials To Clear 3,000-Crore Loans: Sources

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.

ED, 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.

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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.

Several regulatory and financial bodies have shared their own findings with ED, including the National Housing Bank (NHB), Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), the National Financial Reporting Authority (NFRA), and Bank of Baroda.

SEBI has submitted a report highlighting serious irregularities within Reliance Home Finance Limited (RHFL), a group company. According to the report, the firm's corporate loan portfolio nearly doubled from Rs 3,742 crore in FY 2017-18 to Rs 8,670 crore in FY 2018-19.

Also Read | Reliance MF Invested Rs 2,850 Crore In YES Bank, Siphoned Off: Sources

Separately, the State Bank of India (SBI) has classified Reliance Communications (RCom), a group company of Anil Ambani, and Mr Ambani himself as "fraud" accounts.

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.