New Delhi: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has provisionally attached assets worth approximately Rs 1,885 crore linked to companies under Anil Ambani’s Reliance Group. This action was announced in an official statement issued on Wednesday.
The attachment relates to ongoing investigations into bank fraud cases involving Reliance Home Finance Limited (RHFL), Reliance Commercial Finance Limited (RCFL), Yes Bank, and Reliance Communications Limited (RCom).
The attached assets include stakes of Reliance Infrastructure Limited in BSSE Yamuna Power Limited, BSSE Rajdhani Power Limited, and Mumbai Metro One Private Limited. Additionally, Rs 148 crore bank balance and Rs 143 crore receivables held in the name of Value Corp Finance and Securities Limited have also been attached.
Further, the ED has provisionally attached a residential property registered under senior Reliance Group employee Angarai Seturaman and shares and mutual fund investments linked to Puneet Garg.
According to the ED, prior attachments related to RCom, RCFL, and RHFL bank fraud cases have amounted to over Rs 10,117 crore. The total provisional attachment linked to the group now stands close to Rs 12,000 crore.
The investigation revealed fraudulent manipulation of public funds by various companies within the Anil Ambani Group, including RCom, RCFL, RHFL, Reliance Infrastructure Limited, and Reliance Power Limited.
Between 2017 and 2019, Yes Bank invested Rs 2,965 crore in RHFL and Rs 2,045 crore in RCFL, which turned into non-performing assets (NPA) by December 2019. At that time, the outstanding dues were Rs 1,353.50 crore for RHFL and Rs 1,984 crore for RCFL.
The probe also found that RHFL and RCFL received over Rs 11,000 crore in public funds. Before Yes Bank’s investment, significant amounts were routed through Reliance Nippon Mutual Fund. Due to regulatory restrictions under SEBI rules preventing direct investment by Reliance Nippon Mutual Fund into the financial companies of the Anil Ambani Group, public funds were channelled via Yes Bank through complex routes.
The ED’s investigation is based on the First Information Report (FIR) filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which includes multiple charges. The probe uncovered that since 2010-2012, RCom and its group companies borrowed heavily from domestic and foreign banks, with Rs 40,185 crore still outstanding. Nine banks have declared these loans fraudulent.
Findings suggest that loans taken from one bank were used to repay other banks’ loans, transfer funds to related parties, and invest in mutual funds, violating loan conditions. Over Rs 13,600 crore was used to ‘evergreen’ loans, Rs 12,600 crore was diverted to related parties, and Rs 1,800 crore was invested in fixed deposits and mutual funds, later redirected back to group companies.
The ED also reported large-scale misuse of bill discounting to transfer funds to related parties and that some loan amounts were sent abroad. The investigation remains ongoing.
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