ED attaches assets worth over Rs 7.5K crore in money laundering case against Anil Ambani

New Delhi, Nov 3 (PTI) Assets worth more than Rs 7,500 crore linked to Reliance Group Chairman Anil Ambani, his group companies and linked entities have been attached as part of a money laundering investigation, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) said on Monday.

The federal probe agency issued four separate provisional orders under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) on October 31 for attaching 42 properties, including the 66-year-old Ambani's family home in Pali Hill, Mumbai, apart from other residential and commercial properties of his group companies.

On Monday, the ED issued a fifth order attaching 32 acres of land of Dhirubhai Ambani Knowledge City (DAKC) in Navi Mumbai, Maharashtra, worth Rs 4,462 crore in the Reliance Communications Ltd. (RCOM) linked alleged bank fraud case.

A plot of land belonging to the Reliance Centre on Maharaja Ranjit Singh Marg in Delhi and multiple other assets of Reliance Infrastructure Ltd., certain linked entities like Adhar Property Consultancy Private Limited, Mohanbir Hi-tech Build Private Limited, Gamesa Investment Management Private Limited, Vihaan43 Realty Private Limited (earlier known as Kunjbihari Developers Private Limited) and that of Campion Properties Limited have been attached as part of the October 31 orders.

These properties are located in the national capital, Noida, Ghaziabad, Mumbai, Pune, Thane, Hyderabad, Chennai and East Godavari district in Andhra Pradesh.

Offices in the 'Nagin Mahal' building at Churchgate in Mumbai, flats in BHA Millenium apartments in Noida and Camus Capri Apartments in Hyderabad are among those provisionally attached by the ED.

The total value of the attached assets is more than Rs 7,545 crore, the agency said in a statement.

R-Infra said in a regulatory filing that there was no impact on the business operations, shareholders, employees or any other stakeholders of the company.

Anil Ambani is not on the Board of Reliance Infrastructure Limited for more than 3.5 years, it said.

The agency said, so far, ED has detected "fraudulent" diversion of public money by various Reliance Anil Ambani group companies, including RCOM, Reliance Home Finance Ltd (RHFL), Reliance Commercial Finance Ltd (RCFL), Reliance Infrastructure Ltd (R-Infra) and Reliance Power Ltd.

The statement said a separate search action was carried out by the agency under the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) against R-Infra, and it was found that Rs 40 crore was "siphoned" from the Jaipur-Reengus highway project.

"Funds moved through Surat-based shell companies to Dubai. The trail has unearthed a wider international hawala network exceeding Rs 600 crore," it said.

The agency alleged that around 2010-12 onwards, RCOM and its group companies raised thousands of crores from Indian banks, of which Rs 19,694 crore remains outstanding.

These assets turned into non-performing assets (NPA), with five banks declaring RCOM's loan accounts as fraud, it said.

"Loans taken by one entity from one bank were utilised for repayment of loans taken by other entities from other banks, transfer to related parties, and investments in mutual funds, which was in contravention of the terms and conditions of the sanction letter of the loans." "In particular, RCOM and its group companies diverted over Rs 13,600 crore used in evergreening loans, over Rs 12,600 crore was diverted to connected parties and over Rs 1,800 crore was invested in fixed deposits and mutual funds, etc.," it said.

The agency claimed certain loans were "siphoned off" outside India through foreign outward remittances.

It said that during 2017-2019, Yes Bank invested Rs 2,965 crore in RHFL instruments and Rs 2,045 crore in RCFL instruments. By December 2019, these became "non-performing" investments, it claimed.

The "outstanding" was Rs 1,353.50 crore for RHFL and Rs 1,984 crore for RCFL. The agency added that RHFL and RCFL received public funds of more than Rs 10,000 crore, and a large amount of this fund came from Yes Bank.

"Before Yes Bank invested this money in Reliance Anil Ambani group companies, it received huge funds from the erstwhile Reliance Nippon Mutual Fund.

"As per SEBI regulations, Reliance Nippon Mutual Fund could not invest/divert funds directly in Anil Ambani group finance companies due to conflict-of-interest rules," the agency said.

The ED said it has "detected a pattern of mala fide in this case like pre-decided beneficiaries, manufactured paperwork, waived controls and disbursals ahead of approvals, followed by swift routing to related entities".

"This conduct enabled siphoning of public funds," it said. The ED, it said, continues to trace the proceeds of crime.

"The recoveries by ED, after following due process of law, are aimed at restoring losses to lenders and, ultimately, benefitting the general public," it said, hinting at restoring or restituting the assets with "victim" banks, a provision available under the PMLA.

Ambani was questioned in the case by the ED in August. This came after the agency searched 35 premises of 50 companies and 25 people, including executives of his business group, in Mumbai on July 24. The ED's money laundering case stems from a Central Bureau of Investigation FIR. PTI NES RT RT