The directorate of enforcement (ED) has provisionally attached the Pali Hill residential property ‘Abode’ belonging to Anil Ambani, valued at ₹3,716.83 crore, under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 (PMLA).
In a release, ED says the attachment was carried out by its special task force at headquarters in connection with the ongoing probe into the alleged bank fraud involving Reliance Communications Ltd (RCOM).
Earlier, a portion of the same property had been attached to the extent of ₹473.17 crore. With the latest action, the cumulative value of properties attached in the Reliance Communications group case now stands at over ₹15,700 crore, the agency says.
ED stated that its investigation was initiated on the basis of a first information report (FIR) registered by central bureau of investigation (CBI). The FIR invoked sections 120-B (criminal conspiracy), 406 (criminal breach of trust) and 420 (cheating) of the Indian Penal Code, 1860, along with section 13(2) read with section 13(1)(d) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1989.
The case pertains to alleged irregularities in loans availed by RCOM and its group companies from domestic and foreign lenders. According to ED, a total outstanding amount of ₹40,185 crore remains unpaid.
The agency says its investigation revealed that the Pali Hill property was aggregated into RiseE Trust, described as a private family trust of members of Anil Ambani’s family.
According to ED, the restructuring was carried out to create an impression that Anil Ambani was not directly involved with the asset. The agency alleged that the intended effect was to preserve wealth and generate resources while shielding the property from personal liabilities arising from guarantees extended by Ambani to lender banks against loans sanctioned to RCOM.
ED further stated that the property was allegedly intended for beneficial use and ownership by the Ambani family, rather than being available to distressed public sector banks whose loans had turned non-performing assets (NPAs).
Further investigation in the case is ongoing.
There was no immediate response from Anil Ambani or representatives of Reliance Communications at the time of publication.
Last year in November, ED provisionally attached 42 immovable properties valued at more than ₹3,083 crore linked to entities of the Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani group (ADAG) in connection with its ongoing investigation into large-scale financial irregularities, diversion of public funds and suspected money laundering.
According to the agency, the attached assets include part of Anil Ambani's family residence at Pali Hill, Bandra (West), the Reliance Centre on Maharaja Ranjeet Singh Road in New Delhi, and multiple residential and commercial properties spread across Delhi, Noida, Ghaziabad, Mumbai, Pune, Thane, Hyderabad, Chennai (including Kancheepuram), East Godavari and Goa. The list covers 30 properties of Reliance Infrastructure Ltd, five of Adhar Property Consultancy Pvt Ltd, four of Mohanbir Hi-Tech Build Pvt Ltd, and one each belonging to Gamesa Investment Management Pvt Ltd, Vihaan43 Realty Pvt Ltd (formerly Kunjbihari Developers Pvt Ltd) and Campion Properties Ltd.
ED says its probe has uncovered fraudulent diversion of public funds by several Reliance ADA group companies, including RCOM, Reliance Home Finance Ltd (RHFL), Reliance Commercial Finance Ltd (RCFL), Reliance Infrastructure Ltd (RInfra) and Reliance Power Ltd. Between 2010 and 2012, RCOM and its related companies raised thousands of crores from Indian banks, of which ₹19,694 crore remains outstanding. These accounts were declared non-performing assets (NPAs) and at least five banks classified RCOM's loans as fraudulent. (Read:
Anil Ambani’s Mumbai Home, Delhi Properties among ₹3,084 Crore Assets Attached by ED)
The property was transferred to his privately owned company under a sham restructuring exercise of BSES real estate assets, at pennies to the dollar. Later, funds siphoned out of listed companies (who owe thousands of crores to banks) funded the construction of the Abode, Anil Ambani's answer to Antilla.
Agencies should not stop at the funds used to build the swanky luxury residence; they should also look at how the land ended up to be owned by Anil Ambani's privately owned companies. If reimbursed, Reliance Infra shareholders may end up getting more than what the value of shares they own.
With ED going after the Trusts whose beneficiaries are Anil Ambani's family members, it may indicate that the entire or most of the family is under scrutiny... Through news reports, we atleast know that Anil, Tina and Jai Anmol Ambani are under investigation for various cases.