ED issues summons to Anil Ambani over alleged loan fraud

THe Enforcement board of directors (ED) has issued process to man of affairs indigotin Ambani in link with its money laundering probe into alleged loan fraud worth several thousand crores, people familiar with the matter said on Friday.An official said Ambani has been asked to appear before the agency on August 5 and is likely to be asked about loans to two companies, Reliance Home Finance Limited (RHFL), Reliance Commercial Finance Ltd (RCFL), and the suspected diversion of the funds.The financial crimes probe agency raided 50 companies and 25 people, including senior executives of Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group companies, last week. Two of the loans under probe were given by Yes Bank to RHFL and RCFL.In both cases, the Central Bureau of Investigation named former Yes Bank chairman Rana Kapoor as an accused. “Preliminary investigations have revealed a well-planned and thought-after scheme to divert or siphon off public money by cheating banks, shareholders, investors, and other public institutions,” an ED officer said last week.The ED has found a “gross violation” in Yes Bank loan approvals to Reliance Anil Ambani Group Companies. “Credit approval memorandums (CAMs) were back-dated, investments were proposed without any due diligence or credit analysis in violation of the bank’s credit policy,” the officer said. “In violation of the terms, these loans were diverted to many group companies and shell companies.”A second officer said there was a dramatic increase in RHFL’s corporate loans, from ₹3,742.60 crore in FY 2017-18 to ₹8,670.80 crore in FY 2018-19, which is also under the ED probe.ED officials said that Reliance Communications Ltd also committed a loan fraud of over ₹14,000 crore, which is being investigated.A Reliance Group official, who did not want to be named, said last week, “Anil Ambani resigned from the board of RCOM in 2019. Presently, Anil Ambani is not on the board of any Reliance Group companies”.This person said RCOM and RHFL are not part of the Reliance Group, which currently has only two listed companies – Reliance Infrastructure Ltd and Reliance Power Ltd.“Reliance Communications Limited (RCOM) has been under the Corporate Insolvency Resolution Process (CIRP) under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016, for over six years. State Bank of India (SBI) did not grant Anil D Ambani an opportunity for a personal hearing before its committee made its decision in the matter. Furthermore, SBI dropped similar allegations against other notices on identical grounds. However, Mr Ambani was not afforded the same treatment,” the Reliance Group official said.The three-day ED raids on Reliance companies concluded on July 27. Reliance Infrastructure and Reliance said in stock exchange filings that the action had no impact on its business operations.HT has reached out to Reliance for a comment on the summons to Anil Ambani.