ED attaches Reliance Anil Ambani Group assets worth Rs 1,120 crore in Yes Bank fraud case; total attachments cross Rs 10k crore

“The ED had earlier attached properties worth over Rs 8,997 crore in the bank fraud cases of Reliance Communications Ltd (RCOM), Reliance Commercial Finance Ltd, and Reliance Home Finance Ltd. Now, the cumulative group attachment reached Rs 10,117 crore,” the spokesperson said.

A query in this regard has been sent to Anil Ambani’s spokesperson, and a reply is awaited.

According to the ED spokesperson, the agency detected fraudulent diversion of public money by various Reliance Anil Ambani group companies, including Reliance Communications Ltd (RCOM), RHFL, RCFL, RIL and Reliance Power Ltd.

“During 2017–2019, Yes Bank invested Rs 2,965 crore in RHFL instruments and Rs 2,045 crore in RCFL instruments. By December 2019, these became non-performing investments. The outstanding was Rs 1,353.50 crore for RHFL and Rs 1,984 crore for RCFL,” the spokesperson added.

“Investigation in the case of RHFL and RCFL revealed that RHFL and RCFL received public funds of more than Rs 11,000 crore. Before Yes Bank invested this money in Reliance Anil Ambani group companies, Yes Bank had received huge funds from the erstwhile Reliance Nippon Mutual Fund. As per SEBI regulations, Reliance Nippon Mutual Fund could not invest/divert funds directly in Anil Ambani group finance companies due to conflict-of-interest rules,” the statement said.

“Public money in mutual fund schemes was routed indirectly by them. The path ran through Yes Bank’s exposures. The public funds reached Anil Ambani group companies through a circuitous route,” the spokesperson said.

The ED has also initiated an investigation on the basis of a First Information Report (FIR) registered by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) against Reliance Communications, Anil Ambani and others. RCOM and its group companies availed loans from domestic and foreign lenders from 2010-12 onwards, of which a total amount of Rs 40,185 crore is outstanding.

“Nine banks have declared the loan accounts of the group as fraud. Investigation has revealed that loans taken by one entity from one bank were utilised for repayment of loans taken by other entities from other banks, transfer to related parties, and investments in mutual funds, which was in contravention to the terms and conditions of the sanction letter of the loans,” the spokesperson added.

“In particular, RCOM and its group companies diverted over Rs 13,600 crore for evergreening of loans; over Rs 12,600 crore was diverted to connected parties; and over Rs 1,800 crore was invested in FDs/MFs (fixed deposits, mutual funds), etc, which was substantially liquidated for rerouting to group entities. Huge misuse of bill discounting for the purpose of funnelling funds to connected parties has also been detected by ED. Certain loans were siphoned off outside India through foreign outward remittances,” the spokesperson said.