New Delhi: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) conducted searches at the residences of industrialist Anil Ambani and offices of Reliance Communications (RCom) after registering a second case against the company on the complaint given by the Bank of Baroda dated February 24 for offences of conspiracy, cheating under the IPC, and criminal misconduct and abuse of official position under the Prevention of Corruption Act.
The case has been filed against Anil Ambani, promoter and erstwhile Chairman of Reliance Communications, Reliance Communications, and others, according to a statement issued by the premier investigative agency.
The allegations in the FIR are that Bank of Baroda has suffered a loss of more than Rs 2,220 crore due to the loans availed by Reliance Communication, which were allegedly diverted and misutilised by creating fictitious transactions with related parties. The books of accounts of Reliance Communications Ltd. were manipulated and irregularities concealed.
After registration of this case, the CBI has conducted searches at the residence of Anil Ambani and the registered offices of Reliance Communications Ltd. Various documents connected with these loan transactions have been recovered, the statement said.
The account was declared a Non-Performing Asset in 2017 itself. However, based on the petition filed by Anil Ambani, the Bombay High Court had imposed a stay on the declaration of the accounts as a fraud. The stay was vacated on February 23, after which the Bank of Baroda lodged this complaint, and the CBI took up the case immediately, the statement said.
The CBI has already registered another case against Reliance Communications based on a complaint lodged by the SBI, which is the lead bank of a consortium consisting of 11 banks. However, Bank of Baroda was not part of the SBI consortium, and this is a different loan availed by the Reliance Communication Ltd from Bank of Baroda, the then Vijaya Bank and the then Dena Bank. Vijaya Bank and Dena Bank have now been merged with Bank of Baroda, the statement said.
Investigation in the case is still continuing, the statement added.
(IANS)
