ED attaches RCom’s land worth over ₹4,462 crore in money laundering case
New Delhi: Enforcement directorate (ED) has provisionally annexed around 132 acres of land in Dhirubhai Ambani Knowledge City (DAKC), Navi Mumbai, Maharashtra. ₹4,463 crore under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act.
This brings the total asset seizures to more than 1,000 ₹7,500 crore in cases involving Reliance Communications Ltd (RCom), Reliance Commercial Finance Ltd and Reliance Home Finance Ltd, the investigating agency said on Monday.
In its statement, ED said that 42 properties belonging to these companies had been attached in the case earlier.
The 42 properties include several properties of Reliance Infrastructure Ltd in Mumbai, Pune, Thane, Noida, Hyderabad, East Godavari and Goa.
These also include Nagin Mahal offices at Churchgate in Mumbai, flats at BHA Millennium Tower (Noida), Camus Capri Apartments (Hyderabad), land parcels in East Godavari and facilities in Pune and Thane, ED said in a separate statement earlier in the day.
ED initiated the investigation based on the central bureau of investigation (CBI) FIR under various provisions of the Indian Penal Code and the Prevention of Corruption Act.
It is claimed that RCom and its group companies used loans from domestic and foreign credit providers between 2010 and 2012. ₹40,185 crore is outstanding, ED said.
The investigating agency said five banks claimed the group’s loan accounts were fake.
“We would like to inform you that certain assets of the company have been temporarily attached by ED due to alleged violations under PMLA,” Reliance Infrastructure Ltd informed the stock exchanges on Monday.
“It has no impact on the business operations, shareholders, employees or other stakeholders of Reliance Infrastructure Ltd. Anil D. Ambani has not been on the Board of Directors of Reliance Infrastructure Limited for more than 3.5 years,” the company said.
Reliance Centre-Delhi (RCD) and Dhirubhai Ambani Knowledge City ((DAKC) in Navi Mumbai are assets of Reliance Communication (Rcom), a person with knowledge of the development said.
“Reliance Communication has been going through the corporate insolvency resolution process for over six years. Matters related to RCom’s decision are under decision before the NCLT and the Supreme Court of India. Anil D. Ambani served as a non-executive director on the board of RCom and resigned from this post in 2019,” said the person, speaking on condition of anonymity.
In its investigation, ED alleged that loans taken by an organization from a bank were used for the purpose of repayment of loans taken by other organizations from other banks, transfer to related parties and investment in investment funds, in violation of the terms and conditions in the sanction letter.
ED claims RCom and group companies were diverted ₹13,600 crore for continuous renewal of loans; on ₹12,600 crore diverted to linked parties and more ₹FDs/MFs etc. 1,800 crore was invested and this was largely liquidated to be redirected to group entities.
“It was also found by ED that invoice discounting was grossly misused to divert funds to linked parties. Some loans were siphoned out of India through foreign remittances,” the probe agency said.
Total binding in these cases was approximately ₹7,545 crore. “ED is actively pursuing perpetrators of financial crimes and is committed to returning the proceeds of crime to their rightful owners. Further investigations are ongoing,” the agency added.
ED is a multi-disciplinary agency that investigates money laundering and violations of foreign exchange laws.
