Reliance Power CFO Ashok Kumar Pal resigns after ED arrest

New Delhi: Reliance Power (RPower) on Saturday said Ashok Kumar Pal has demitted the office of the company's Executive Director and CFO with immediate effect.

Pal has been arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Friday under provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002. He was produced before a court on Saturday and sent to two days of ED custody. The agency will produce him before a special PMLA court on October 13 after the expiry of the remand period, according to the sources.

Pending the ongoing matter and in order to assist the investigation, Ashok Kumar Pal has demitted the office of Executive Director and CFO with immediate effect. A formal letter will follow and the requisite disclosure will be made, RPower said in an exchange filing.

"We also wish to clarify on the media reports that Anil D. Ambani is not on the Board of Reliance Power Limited for more than 3.5 years and is not concerned with this matter in any manner," RPower said, adding that the company will take all appropriate steps in the matter, as legally advised.

The case pertains to a bank guarantee of Rs 68.2 crore submitted to the Solar Energy Corporation of India Limited (SECI) on behalf of Reliance NU BESS Limited, a subsidiary of Reliance Power, a listed company, which was found to be "fake".

The company was formerly known as Maharashtra Energy Generation Limited.

The accused company, which allegedly operated a racket for providing "fake" bank guarantees for business groups, was identified by the ED as Odisha-based Biswal Tradelink.

The money laundering case stems from a November 2024 FIR of Delhi Police's Economic Offences Wing (EOW). It was alleged that the company was engaged in issuing "fake" bank guarantees against a commission of 8 per cent.

The Reliance Group had then said that Reliance Power had been a "victim of fraud, forgery and cheating conspiracy" in this case and it had made due disclosures in this context to the stock exchange on November 7, 2024.

A group spokesperson said a criminal complaint was lodged by them against the third party (accused company) with Delhi Police's EOW in October 2024 and the "due process" of law would follow.