ED turns down Anil Ambani’s request for virtual appearance, asks him to report on Monday

The summons was issued days after the ED’s provisional attachment of more than 42 properties linked to Anil Ambani and his firms.

Anil Ambani, Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group, Enforcement Directorate

Anil Ambani was called to appear before the investigating officer at the agency’s Delhi headquarters, and the summons came nearly three months after he was questioned for eight hours by ED in the same case. (File photo)

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) Friday asked industrialist Anil Ambani to report for questioning on November 17 in connection with its probe into alleged loan fraud involving his group companies. The agency had summoned Ambani last week for an interrogation on November 14, but the businessman had requested a virtual appearance, which the agency turned down.

Ambani was called to appear before the investigating officer at the agency’s Delhi headquarters, and the summons came nearly three months after he was questioned for eight hours by ED in the same case.

Responding to the fresh summons, a spokesperson of Anil Ambani said, “Anil D Ambani writes to ED to fully cooperate on all matters. He also offers to appear by virtual means. ED summons (to) Anil D. Ambani relates to a FEMA inquiry and not to any matter under the PMLA.”

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“As per the ED’s official media release dated 3 November, the matter pertains to a FEMA case relating to the Jaipur-Reengus highway project. The matter is 15 years old, dates to 2010, and concerns issues associated with a road contractor. In 2010, Reliance Infrastructure Ltd. awarded an EPC contract for the construction of the JR Toll Road (Jaipur-Reengus Highway). This was a purely domestic contract with no foreign exchange component involved whatsoever. The JR Toll Road has been fully completed and, from 2021 onwards, has been with the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) for over four years,” the spokesperson added.

“Anil D. Ambani is not a member of the Board of Reliance Infrastructure. He served the company for about 15 years, from April 2007 to March 2022, only as a non-executive director, and was never involved in day-to-day management of the company,” the spokesperson further said.

The summons was issued days after the ED’s provisional attachment of more than 42 properties linked to Ambani and his firms, valued at over Rs 3,083 crore, as part of the probe into companies of the Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group.

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