The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Saturday registered a case against industrialist Anil Ambani and carried out searches at his residence as well as the premises of Reliance Communications Ltd. in connection with an alleged bank fraud that caused a loss of over ₹2,929 crore to the State Bank of India (SBI).
The action came days after the Enforcement Directorate (ED) questioned Ambani in a separate case and filed a money laundering complaint against his group companies. The CBI had obtained search warrants from a Mumbai court on Friday.
SBI’s Complaint Triggers Probe
“The Central Bureau of Investigation has registered a criminal case on August 21 against M/s Reliance Communication Ltd. (RCOM), Mumbai, its Director Anil D. Ambani, unknown public servants and unknown others on the allegations of defrauding the bank, and thereby causing wrongful loss of Rs 2929.05 crore to the bank,” a CBI spokesperson said in a statement.
On August 18, the CBI received a complaint from Jyoti Kumar, Deputy General Manager of SBI’s Mumbai branch. According to Kumar, the fraud was detected after a forensic audit report was submitted on October 15, 2020, covering the period from April 1, 2013 to March 31, 2017.
“The fraud has taken place at Mumbai in credit facilities availed by borrower company, wherein the accused persons/company in conspiracy with each other and unknown others have induced the lenders to avail the credit facilities by misrepresentation and deception and after disbursal of the same, misappropriated the funds of the Banks by entering into transaction which were in violation of the terms and conditions of sanction of the credit facilities,” Kumar alleged in his complaint.
Allegations of Diversion and Misuse of Funds
The CBI said the allegations include misuse and diversion of funds across group companies and associates.
The spokesperson noted: “It is alleged that the accused in criminal conspiracy, misrepresented and got sanctioned credit facilities from SBI in favour of Reliance Communications.”
“Further, the allegations pertain to misutilization/diversion of loan funds, potential routing of loan funds, inter-company loan transactions, misutilization of sales invoice financing, discounting of bills of RCOM by M/s Reliance Infratel Ltd., movement of funds through inter corporate deposits, write off of capital advances given to M/s Netizen Engineering Pvt. Ltd.—a group company of Reliance ADA Group, and creation/write off of fictitious debtors, etc,” the spokesperson added.
Ambani Denies Allegations
A spokesperson, on behalf of Mr. Anil D. Ambani, said, “The search at Mr. Anil D. Ambani’s residence concluded earlier this afternoon.
The complaint filed by the State Bank of India (SBI) pertains to matters dating back more than a decade. At that time, Mr. Ambani served only as a Non-Executive Director of the company, with no involvement in its day-to-day management.
It is important to note that SBI itself has already withdrawn proceedings against five other Non-Executive Directors by its own order. Despite this, Mr. Ambani has been selectively singled out.
Currently, Reliance Communications is being managed under the supervision of a Committee of Creditors, led by SBI and overseen by a Resolution Professional. The matter has remained sub judice before the NCLT and other judicial forums, including the Hon’ble Supreme Court, for the past six years.
Mr. Ambani has already challenged SBI’s declaration before the competent judicial forum.
He strongly denies all allegations and charges and will take all necessary steps to defend himself.”
Parallel ED Action
Meanwhile, the ED has been running a parallel investigation into suspected money laundering linked to the Ambani group. Last month, the agency carried out searches at over 35 locations in Mumbai connected to the industrialist as part of a probe into a ₹3,000 crore loan fraud.
Officials said the ED is examining 50 companies and 25 individuals under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act. “On August 5, he appeared before the ED here and asked to give him time to submit some documents,” an official said.