Anil Ambani: Taking major action in the bank fraud case related to Reliance Anil Ambani Group, ED has temporarily attached more than 18 properties, fixed deposits, bank balances and stake in unquoted investments. The total value of attached assets is approximately Rs 1,120 crore. This action is related to the case of Reliance Home Finance Limited (RHFL), Reliance Commercial Finance Limited (RCFL) and Yes Bank fraud.
The attached properties include
The properties attached by ED include 7 properties of Reliance Infrastructure Limited, 2 properties of Reliance Power Limited, 9 properties of Reliance Value Services Pvt Ltd, Reliance Value Services Pvt Ltd, Reliance Venture Asset Management Pvt Ltd, M/s Phi Management Solutions Pvt Ltd, M/s Aadhaar Property Consultancy Pvt Ltd, M/s Gamesa Investments. Includes FD and bank balance in the name of Management Private Limited. Along with this, stakes in unquoted investments have also been attached.
Assets worth Rs 10117 crore attached till now
It is noteworthy that ED has already attached assets worth more than Rs 8,997 crore in the bank fraud cases of RCOM, RCFL and RHFL. After the new action, the total attached assets of the group have increased to Rs 10,117 crore. According to the ED investigation, there was massive misuse of public funds by several Anil Ambani group companies such as Reliance Communications Limited, Reliance Home Finance Limited, Reliance Commercial Finance Limited, Reliance Infrastructure Limited and Reliance Power Limited.
What is ED’s allegation?
Investigation revealed that during the year 2017–2019, Yes Bank had invested Rs 2,965 crore in RHFL instruments and Rs 2,045 crore in RCFL instruments, which later turned into NPA. As of December 2019, Rs 1,353.50 crore of RHFL and Rs 1,984 crore of RCFL remained outstanding. Apart from this, RHFL and RCFL had received a total of more than Rs 11,000 crore of public money, which was channeled to Anil Ambani group companies through complex financial routes.
SEBI rules were ignored
Due to SEBI rules, Reliance Nippon Mutual Fund could not directly invest in these companies, hence the money was routed to the group companies through Yes Bank by adopting the ‘circuitous route’. On the basis of FIR registered by CBI, ED has also started investigation against RCOM, Anil Ambani and others.
According to the investigation, between 2010 and 2012, the group took huge loans from domestic and foreign banks, of which Rs 40,185 crore are outstanding and 9 banks have declared these as frauds. Many companies used the loan taken from one bank to repay the loan of another bank, transfer it to related parties and invest in mutual funds, which was in violation of the loan terms.
ED found that some of the money used to send Rs 12,600 crore in ‘Evergreening of Loan’ to related parties and Rs 1,800 crore in FD/MF and later routing it to group companies, was also sent out of India through foreign remittances, the ED found. ED has said that it will continue to take strict action against financial criminals and is committed to returning public money to its rightful owners. Further investigation is ongoing.
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