ED Attaches Assets Worth Rs 1,885 Crore of Anil Ambani Group in Bank Fraud Case

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has provisionally attached assets worth Rs 1,885 crore belonging to the Reliance Anil Ambani Group. This action was taken through four separate orders in connection with bank fraud cases related to Reliance Home Finance Limited (RHFL), Reliance Commercial Finance Limited (RCFL), and Reliance Communications Limited (RCOM). The attached assets include bank balances, receivables, immovable properties, and shareholding in unquoted investments.

Among the attached properties are shares held by Reliance Infrastructure Limited in BSES Yamuna Power Limited, BSES Rajdhani Power Limited, and Mumbai Metro One Private Limited. The ED has also attached bank balances of Rs 148 crore and Rs 143 crore as receivables of Value Corp Finance and Securities Limited. In addition, a residential house owned by Angarai Sethuraman and shares and mutual fund investments belonging to the wife of Puneet Garg, both senior employees of the Reliance Group, have been attached.

Earlier, the ED had already attached assets worth more than Rs 10,117 crore in similar fraud cases involving RCOM, RCFL, and RHFL. With the latest attachment of Rs 1,885 crore, the total value of attached properties has reached around Rs 12,000 crore.

During the period 2017 to 2019, Yes Bank invested Rs 2,965 crore in RHFL and Rs 2,045 crore in RCFL. By December 2019, these investments became non-performing assets (NPAs). At that time, the outstanding amount was Rs 1,353.50 crore for RHFL and Rs 1,984 crore for RCFL.

The ED found that RHFL and RCFL had received more than Rs 11,000 crore of public money. Before Yes Bank invested in these companies, it had received large funds from Reliance Nippon Mutual Fund. According to the SEBI rules, Reliance Nippon Mutual Fund could not directly invest in Anil Ambani’s finance companies. Therefore, the money was sent indirectly through Yes Bank. This route was used to transfer public money to Reliance Group companies.

The ED has also started investigations based on FIRs registered by the CBI under the Indian Penal Code, 1860 and the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1989. These cases relate to loans taken by RCOM and its group companies from 2010 to 2012 and later; the group borrowed money from Indian and foreign banks, of which Rs 40,185 crore remains unpaid. Nine banks have declared these loan accounts as fraudulent.

ED investigation exposed that loans taken from one bank were used to repay loans from other banks. Money was also transferred to related companies and invested in mutual funds, which violated the terms and conditions of the sanction letter for the loans. Over Rs 13,600 crore was used for evergreening loans, Rs 12,600 crore was diverted to connected parties, and Rs 1,800 crore was invested in FDs/MFs.

The ED also found misuse of bill discounting and illegal transfer of funds abroad. According to the ED, some of the money was sent outside India through foreign remittances. These actions caused major losses to banks and investors. The ED has stated that it is actively working to identify those responsible and return the illegal money to rightful claimants. However, further investigation is still ongoing.