ED again issues summons to Anil Ambani
ED summons Anil Ambani: The troubles of Reliance Group Chairman Anil Ambani are not showing signs of diminishing. The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has once again summoned him for questioning on November 14. This summons has been sent in a big bank loan fraud and money laundering case related to State Bank of India (SBI). This matter has become very serious because the investigating agency ED has already seized assets worth crores of rupees of the group and now the Ministry of Corporate Affairs of the government has also ordered a separate investigation.
Assets worth more than Rs 7500 crore seized
According to a report in Economics Times, ED has so far attached assets worth more than Rs 7,500 crore in this alleged loan fraud case. This is a very big action. Recently on November 3, the ED had seized over 132 acres of land within the Dhirubhai Ambani Knowledge City (DAKC) in Navi Mumbai, which is estimated to be worth Rs 4,462.81 crore.
Even before this, the investigating agency had seized 42 properties worth more than Rs 3,083 crore in cases related to RCom (Reliance Communications), Reliance Commercial Finance and Reliance Home Finance. This entire investigation is being done on the basis of the FIR registered by CBI, in which RCom, Anil Ambani and others face serious charges of criminal conspiracy (120-B) and cheating (420).
Big revelation made in investigation
ED’s investigation has revealed that loans taken from banks were misused on a large scale. It is alleged that between 2010 and 2012, RCom and its associated companies took loans worth thousands of crores of rupees from Indian banks, of which Rs 19,694 crores are still outstanding.
Five banks have already declared RCom’s loan accounts as ‘fraudulent’. The investigating agency has found that ‘circular movement’ of funds, ‘evergreening’ of loans (repaying old loans by taking new loans) and bill discounting were misused.
According to the results of the investigation
- An amount of more than Rs 13,600 crore was allegedly used to repay old loans.
- Rs 12,600 crore were transferred to connected parties.
- Rs 1,800 crore were invested in fixed deposits or mutual funds, which were later withdrawn and used elsewhere.
This simply means that the loan taken in the name of one company was used to repay the loan of another company, which is a clear violation of the loan terms.
After ED, now SFIO will investigate
Apart from ED, now the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) has also ordered an investigation against Anil Ambani’s ADAG Group. The ministry has entrusted the investigation of this matter to its main investigation branch, ‘Serious Fraud Investigation Office’ (SFIO).
SFIO is mainly comprised of four companies—Reliance Infra (RInfra), Reliance Communications (RCom), Reliance Commercial Finance (RCFL) and CLE Pvt. Ltd. Will investigate. This order comes after banks and auditors complained of serious irregularities in the financial disclosures of the company.
According to a government official, since the CBI and ED are already investigating the money transactions, the focus of the SFIO will be on the lapses in ‘corporate governance’ i.e. the way the company is run. The SFIO will also find out whether there were any deliberate lapses by banks, auditors or rating agencies in this entire matter, and whether the money was diverted through shell (fake) companies.