New Delhi: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) Thursday carried out raids at more than 35 premises linked to Reliance Anil Ambani Group companies as part of a probe into a money laundering case registered against two group firms. The case pertains to loan amounting to Rs 3,000 crore obtained from Yes Bank during the tenure of its former managing director, Rana Kapoor, and disbursed to Reliance Anil Ambani Group companies.
Searches covered the premises of nearly 50 companies and 25 individuals associated with the case, sources in the agency told ThePrint.
Overall, the agency suspects Anil Ambani’s group of companies committed fraud to the tune of Rs 14,000 crore, sources said, adding that Anil Ambani’s undisclosed foreign bank accounts and assets are also under investigation by the anti-money laundering agency.
ED’s particular probe stems from two cases of the Central Bureau of Investigation, which were lodged in September 2022 against Kapoor and two firms controlled by Anil Ambani—Reliance Commercial Finance Limited (RCFL) and Reliance Home Finance Limited (RHFL).
Sources in the agency stated that the investigation conducted so far has indicated diversion of Rs 3,000 crore worth of loans from Yes Bank between 2017 and 2019, and that the loans were granted after the bank promoters received kickbacks.
They further stated that the bank’s promoters and those running the bank overlooked critical criteria, such as the bank’s credit policy and document verification, before sanctioning loans of such large amount. “ED has found gross violations in Yes Bank loan approvals to Reliance Anil Ambani Group companies, such as credit approval memorandums were back-dated, investments were proposed without any due diligence/credit analysis in violation of the bank’s credit policy,” an ED official said.
The agency has identified flaws, including the sanctioning of loans to firms with weak financials, without proper documentation, and to borrowers with common addresses and directors, which were further diverted to entities owned by the promoters of these firms on the same day of disbursement.
Agency officials pointed out that several other institutions, including the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), National Housing Bank, National Financial Reporting Authority and Bank of Baroda have also shared their findings related to the “misappropriation of loan amounts” by the Reliance Anil Ambani Group companies.
“SEBI flagged a dramatic increase in corporate loans by RHFL, from Rs 3,742.60 crore in the financial year 2017-18 to Rs 8,670.80 crore in FY2018-19, and several illegal practices such as irregular and expedited approvals, deviations from standard process. Other illegalities have (also) been found,” the ED official said.
The searches come days after Union Minister of State (MoS) for Finance, Pankaj Chaudhary, informed Parliament that the State Bank of India had flagged a loan account of Reliance Communications, run by Anil Ambani, as “fraud” and was in the process of approaching the CBI to register a complaint.
This is an updated version of the report
(Edited by Nida Fatima Siddiqui)
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