India’s Enforcement Directorate (ED), the central agency that investigates money laundering and foreign exchange violations, has provisionally attached assets worth about Rs 510 crore linked to companies of industrialist Anil Ambani.
What was attached
The action covers two bank-fraud-related cases:
- Reliance Communications (RCom) case (Rs 247.12 crore): Two chartered aircraft (a Dassault Falcon 2000 and an Embraer), six land parcels, and one office premises in Maharashtra.
- Reliance Home Finance Ltd (RHFL) / Reliance Commercial Finance Ltd (RCFL) case (Rs 263.05 crore): Two windmills in Tamil Nadu, plus bank balances, fixed deposits, investments, and receivables.
With this round, the total value of assets attached or seized by the ED in various cases against the Reliance Anil Ambani Group under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) and the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) has reached roughly Rs 23,100 crore.
Allegations
The ED says its investigation (started on the basis of FIRs by the CBI and the Economic Offences Wings of Delhi and Mumbai police) found that the group:
- Siphoned off public funds from banks and financial institutions,
- Misused the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) to ring-fence corporate assets for personal benefit, and
- Diverted public money from India to offshore tax havens.
It alleges that a large portion of the funds was used for the personal benefit of the promoters and their family. The agency has arrested 10 people in these cases and filed six prosecution complaints under the PMLA and one under FEMA. Companies under investigation include Reliance Communications, Reliance Home Finance, Reliance Commercial Finance, Reliance Infrastructure, Reliance Power, and Reliance Capital.
Anil Ambani is the younger son of late Reliance founder Dhirubhai Ambani. After a high-profile family feud following Dhirubhai’s death in 2002, their mother Kokilaben brokered a split in 2005. Elder brother Mukesh Ambani retained the oil, petrochemicals, and refining businesses (Reliance Industries), while Anil received the telecom, power, infrastructure, and financial-services businesses under what became the Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group (ADAG).
Anil’s flagship telecom company, Reliance Communications (RCom), once a major player, ran into severe debt problems, partly after Mukesh’s Reliance Jio launched with aggressive pricing. RCom entered insolvency proceedings in 2019. Several other group companies, including Reliance Capital, also faced insolvency or major financial stress. Anil has previously faced personal insolvency proceedings related to guarantees he gave for group loans and has seen regulatory actions by SEBI.
Provisional attachment under the PMLA freezes the assets so they cannot be sold or transferred while the investigation and court proceedings continue; it is not a final confiscation.
In a separate matter, the CBI has registered an FIR against Reliance Capital and Anil Ambani alleging a loss of about Rs 1,816 crore to the Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO). Anil Ambani’s spokesperson has denied any wrongdoing, noting that he was a non-executive director/chairman until the RBI superseded the board in November 2021, and has reserved his legal rights.
This is the latest in a series of ED actions against the Anil Ambani group that have steadily increased the quantum of attached assets.