ED Attaches Fresh Assets Worth Rs 1,120 Crore In Case Against Reliance Anil Ambani Group: Cumulative Group Attachment Reaches Rs 10,117 Crore

New Delhi: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has provisionally attached over 18 properties, fixed deposits, bank balance and shareholding in unqouted investments of Reliance Anil Ambani Group worth Rs 1,120 crore in Reliance Home Finance Limited/Reliance Commercial Finance Limited/Yes Bank fraud case.

The ED has reportedly attached seven properties of Reliance Infrastructure Limited, two properties of Reliance Power Limited and nine properties of Reliance Value Service Private Limited. It has also attached fixed Deposits in the name of Reliance Value Service Private Limited, Reliance Venture Asset Management Private Limited, M/s Phi Management Solutions Private Limited , M/s Adhar Property Consultancy Pvt Ltd and M/s Gamesa Investment Management Private Limited. The anti-money laundering agency has also attached some unquoted investments by Reliance Venture Asset Management Private Limited and M/s Phi Management Solutions Private Limited.

Earlier, the ED had attached properties worth over Rs. 8,997 crore in bank fraud cases of Reliance Communications Ltd. (RCOM), Reliance Commercial Finance Ltd., and Reliance Home Finance Ltd. With the latest attachments, the cumulative group attachment has now reached Rs 10,117 crore.

The ED has detected fraudulent diversion of public money by various Reliance Anil Ambani group companies, including Reliance Communications Ltd, Reliance Home Finance Ltd (RHFL), Reliance Commercial Finance Ltd (RCFL), Reliance Infrastructure Ltd (RIL) and Reliance Power Ltd (RHFL).

During 2017-19, 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. The outstanding was Rs 1,353.50 crore for RHFL and Rs 1,984 crore for RCFL. 

The investigation by ED in the RHFL and RCFL case has revealed that both these companies received public funds of more than Rs 11,000 crore. The investigation has also brought to light that before Yes Bank invested in Reliance Anil Ambani group companies, it had received huge funds from erstwhile Reliance Nippon Mutual Fund. 

As per SEBI regulations, Reliance Nippon Mutual Fund could not invest or divert funds directly in Anil Ambani group finance companies due to conflict-of-interest rules. Therefore, public money in mutual fund schemes was routed indirectly by them. The path ran through Yes Bank’s exposures. According to reports, the public funds reached Anil Ambani group companies through circuitous route.

ED has also initiated an investigation on the basis of FIR registered by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) under various sections of Indian Penal Code, 1860 and Prevention of Corruption Act, 1989 against RCOM, Anil Ambani and others. 

RCOM and its group companies availed loans from domestic and foreign lenders from the period of 2010-2012 onwards, of which a total amount of Rs 40,185 Crore is outstanding. Nine banks have declared the loan accounts of the Reliance Anil Ambani Group as fraud. The ED investigation also revealed that 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 to the terms and conditions of the sanction letter of the loans. 

Reports indicate that RCOM and its group companies diverted over Rs. 13,600 Crore for evergreening of loans; over Rs. 12,600 Crore was diverted to connected parties and over Rs. 1,800 Crore was invested in Fixed Deposits or Mutual Funds, which was substantially liquidated for rerouting to group entities. The ED has detected massive misuse of bill discounting for the purpose of funneling funds to connected parties. The agency has also found out that certain loans were siphoned off outside India through foreign outward remittances.

The ED is actively pursuing perpetrators of financial crimes and is committed to restituting proceeds of crime to their rightful claimants.

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