ED summons Anil Ambani for questioning on Aug 5 at Delhi office

Just a few days after the Enforcement Directorate raided Anil Ambanis office he was summoned for questioning on August 5 Anil Ambani the chairman of the Reliance Group was questioned by the ED over an alleged loan fraudlinked money laundering case against his group companies official sources said on FridayAs per news agency PTI Anil Ambani has been asked to report for further questioning at the ED headquarters in Delhi as the case has been registered here the sources saidWhile informing about the summons issued by the ED they highlighted that the agency will record Anil Ambanirsquos statement under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act PMLA once he deposes as cited by the news agency PTIThe summons issued to the son of former prominent businessman Dhirubhai Ambani comes after the federal agency conducted searches against multiple companies and executives of his business group last week The searches which were initiated on July 24 went on for three daysThe action by the investigative agency pertains to alleged financial irregularities and collective loan diversion of more than Rs 10000 crore by multiple group companies of Anil AmbaniThe searches conducted a few days prior covered more than 35 premises in Mumbai and they belonged to 50 companies and 25 people Out of the 35 premises most of them belonged to the executives of the Anil Ambani Group companiesIn view of this matter some of the sources from the Enforcement Directorate had said the investigation primarily pertains to allegations of illegal loan diversion of around Rs 3000 crore given by the Yes Bank to the group companies of Ambani between 2017 and 2019 as per PTIMoreover the sources also claimed that Adani Power and Reliance Infrastructure had informed the stock exchanges saying while they acknowledge the action the raids had absolutely no impact on their business operations financial performance shareholders employees or any other stakeholdersWhile issuing a statement the companies stated that the media reports appear to pertain to allegations concerning transactions of Reliance Communications Limited RCOM or Reliance Home Finance Limited RHFL which are over 10 years old as per PTIAs reported by the PTI ED has reportedly found that just before the loan was granted Yes Bank promoters received money in their concernsKeeping in mind that the investigation agency is very sharply digging into this nexus of bribe and the loan the statements from Anil Ambani to the Enforcement Directorate will play a crucial roleAs per the reports from PTI ED is also probing allegations of gross violations in Yes Bank loan approvals to these companies The allegations against the accused also include charges such as backdated credit approval memorandums and investments proposed without any due diligencecredit analysis in violation of the banks credit policyThe loans are alleged to have been diverted to many group companies and shell bogus companies by the entities involvedWhile digging deep on the facts of this highprofile case on Anil Ambani the agency is also looking at some instances of loans given to entities with weak financials a lack of proper documentation of loans and due diligence borrowers having common addresses and common directors in their companies etc the sources saidMoreover the money laundering case stems from at least two CBI FIRs and reports shared by the National Housing Bank SEBI National Financial Reporting Authority NFRA and Bank of Baroda with the ED they saidThese reports indicate that there was a wellplanned and thoughtout scheme to divert or syphon off public money by cheating banks shareholders investors and other public institutionsOne of the sources had briefed that lsquoThe Union government had informed the Parliament recently that the State Bank of India has classified RCOM along with Ambani as fraud and was also in the process of lodging a complaint with the CBI A bank loan fraud of more than Rs 1050 crore between RCOM and Canara Bank is also under the scanner of the ED apart from some undisclosed foreign bank accounts and assets as cited by news agency PTIMoreover the Reliance Mutual Fund is also stated to have invested Rs 2850 crore in AT1 bonds and a quid pro quo is suspected here by the Enforcement DirectorateAs reported by news agency PTI an alleged loan fund diversion of about Rs 10000 crore involving Reliance Infrastructure too is under the scanner of the agencyWhereas the two companies had said in their filings before the stock exchanges that Anil Ambani was not on the board of either Reliance Power or Reliance Infrastructure and that they had no business or financial linkage to RCOM or RHFLAny action taken against RCOM or RHFL the companies said has no bearing or impact on the governance management or operations of either Reliance Power or Reliance InfrastructureWith inputs from PTI