New Delhi: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has attached another set of assets valued at Rs 3,034.90 crore in the Reliance Communications (RCom) Ltd bank fraud case, bringing the total attachment in Reliance Anil Ambani Group cases to over Rs 19,344 crore, according to an agency statement issued on Tuesday.
The special investigation team (SIT) constituted on the directions of the Supreme Court is investigating the Reliance Anil Ambani Group (RAAG) cases involving diversion and laundering of bank and public funds.
“ED has provisionally attached assets worth Rs 3,034.90 crore under section 5 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) in the M/s Reliance Communications Ltd. (RCom) bank fraud case. The provisional attachment under PMLA has been made to prevent dissipation of assets and to protect the interests of banks and the public,” the statement said.
The ED investigation was initiated based on multiple CBI FIRs registered on the complaints of State Bank of India, Punjab National Bank, Bank of Baroda, and Life Insurance Corporation of India, against RCom, Anil D. Ambani, and others.
RCom and its group companies availed loans from domestic and foreign lenders, of which a total amount of Rs 40,185 crore is outstanding.
ED investigation revealed certain assets of the Promoter Group, including a flat in the Usha Kiran Building, Mumbai, a farmhouse in Khandala, Pune, and a land parcel in Sanand, Ahmedabad.
Besides, 7.71 crore shares of Reliance Infrastructure Ltd, held by M/s RiseE Infinity Pvt Ltd, were also attached. RiseE Infinity is a group entity of Anil Ambani under the RiseE Trust umbrella, which is a private family trust of the members of Anil Ambani’s family. The RiseE Trust was set up to ensure wealth preservation and resource generation by aggregation of properties in RiseE Trust and shield it from the personal liabilities of Anil Ambani in the form of personal guarantees extended by him to lender banks against the loans sanctioned to RCom.
The properties were intended to be beneficially used and owned by the Anil Ambani family and not for the distressed public banks whose loans turned NPA, the statement said.
Under Section 8 of PMLA, confiscated property would be restored to legitimate claimants who suffered loss, including victim banks. Thus, the attachment preserves value so that, after due legal process, public money can be recovered and restored to banks and ultimately the general public, in accordance with the law. The ED is committed to safeguarding the financial system and protecting public funds by identifying and attaching assets involved in money laundering, the statement said.
Further investigation is in progress in the case, the statement added.
