Anil Ambani may appear before ED today in ₹17,000 cr loan fraud case

Industrialist Anil Ambani is likely to appear before the Enforcement Directorate (ED) today in connection with a ₹17,000 crore alleged bank loan fraud involving multiple Reliance Group companies.

Ambani was summoned last week as part of the ED's investigation into alleged money laundering probe while the companies in question are Reliance Home Finance Ltd (RHFL), Reliance Commercial Finance Ltd (RCFL), and Reliance Communications (RCom).

The probe, launched under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), involves loans taken from nearly 20 public and private sector banks. According to data available with the ED, RHFL owes over ₹5,901 crore, RCFL more than ₹8,226 crore, and RCom close to ₹4,105 crore.

Also Read: Anil Ambani faces LoC in ED’s Rs 17,000-crore loan fraud probe

The agency is expected to summon senior officials of the lending banks over the coming days to examine their credit assessment processes and subsequent actions, people aware of the matter told The Economic Times. Among the lenders are Yes Bank, State Bank of India, Axis Bank, ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, Bank of India, UCO Bank, and Punjab and Sind Bank.

“We want to ascertain what action the banks took, if any, against the companies which defaulted. Did they lodge a complaint with any investigating agency, seeking registration of a criminal case against the companies?” a senior official told ET on condition of anonymity.

The ED made its first arrest in the case on Friday. Partha Sarathi Biswal, managing director of Odisha-based Biswal Tradelink Pvt Ltd (BTPL), was arrested for allegedly arranging a fake bank guarantee worth ₹68 crore for a Reliance Group company.

Also Read: ET Exclusive- ED to question bank officials over Rs 17,000 cr loan fraud linked to Anil Ambani-led Reliance Group

“The investigating officer (IO) from the material and the investigation conducted has formed an opinion that the accused is guilty for the offences of money laundering and effected his arrest accordingly,” a Delhi special court said while remanding Biswal to ED custody till August 6.

What is the case against Anil Ambani?
According to the ED, BTPL received ₹5.40 crore from Reliance Nu Bess Ltd’s parent, Reliance Power Ltd, after submitting a fake bank guarantee with forged SBI endorsements in response to a tender floated by the Solar Energy Corporation of India Ltd (SECI).

“Probe reveals BTPL, a small company incorporated in 2019, maintained multiple undisclosed bank accounts and carried out transactions disproportionate to its declared turnover. Many violations of the Companies Act are found,” the ED said in an official statement.

It further said, “Statutory records such as books of accounts and shareholders’ registers were not found at the registered address… Dummy directors are found to be used just to sign the documents.” The agency claimed it had traced proceeds of crime, amounting to several crores, across at least seven undisclosed bank accounts linked to BTPL.

While Reliance Nu Bess had initially filed a complaint against BTPL for cheating, the ED suspects collusion. “Documentary evidence reveals that apparently the two parties acted in collusion. The directors of Biswal Tradelink were found to be previous directors of Reliance Group,” a senior official told ET.

In its response, the Reliance Group said on Friday that the company and its subsidiaries acted bonafidely and have been a victim of fraud, forgery and cheating conspiracy. "The company has made due disclosure on this to the stock exchanges on November 7, 2024. A criminal complaint in this regard has already been lodged with the Economic Offences Wing of Delhi Police against the third party on October 16, 2024. The due process of law will follow.”