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Journalism of Courage
Industrialist Anil Ambani is exploring legal options after the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) banned him from the stock market for five years and imposed a fine of Rs 25 crore, a statement from his spokesperson said.
The Sebi alleged fund diversion from Reliance Home Finance (RHFL), a former subsidiary of Reliance Capital.
Ambani’s spokesperson stated that he had resigned from the boards of Reliance Infrastructure and Reliance Power in the wake of Sebi’s interim order dated February 11, 2022, and “is in compliance with the said interim order for the last two and a half years”.
Ambani is now reviewing the final order dated August 22, 2024, and will take appropriate action as advised, the statement from the spokesperson said. According to market observers, one option before Ambani is to move the Securities Appellate Tribunal (SAT) against the Sebi order.
Reliance Infrastructure and Reliance Power issued separate statements clarifying that they were not parties to the Sebi proceedings and no directions were given against them. They emphasised that Anil Ambani’s resignation from their boards in 2022 was in compliance with Sebi’s interim order, and the recent Sebi order has no impact on their business operations.
Sebi had imposed penalties totalling Rs 625 crore on 27 individuals and entities, including Ambani and his group firms, for allegedly siphoning funds from RHFL. Ambani and 24 others were also barred from accessing the securities market and holding key positions in listed firms for five years.
Sebi started investigating RHFL, a non-banking finance company (NBFC), which focussed on housing loans, loan against property and construction finance after receiving multiple complaints/reports of alleged diversion or siphoning off funds within the company. The major promoter of RHFL was Reliance Capital Ltd (RCL), with a total shareholding of 47.91 per cent. Ambani was also the promoter and non-executive and non-independent director of RCL during FY2018-19.
Sebi found that the loans extended by RHFL to corporates significantly increased from Rs 3,742.60 crore in 2017-18 to Rs 8,670.80 Crore in 2018-19.
