The Enforcement Directorate (ED) temporarily attached over 132 acres of land worth Rs 4,462.81 crore at Dhirubhai Ambani Knowledge City (DAKC) located in Navi Mumbai on Monday under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
The agency recently attached 42 properties worth Rs 3,084 crore in the alleged Reliance Communications Ltd bank fraud case. (RCOM), Reliance Commercial Finance Ltd., and Reliance Home Finance Ltd.. The 42 properties were linked from Anil Ambani’s house on Pali Hill in Mumbai, the Reliance Center property in Delhi, and other properties across Delhi, Noida, Ghaziabad, Mumbai, Pune, Thane, Hyderabad and Chennai. Kanchipuram, East Godavari. The total booking value of properties in the group now stands at over Rs 7,500 crore.
According to the agency, they have initiated an investigation based on the FIR registered by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) under Sections 120-B (criminal conspiracy), 406 (breach of trust) and 420 (cheating) of the Indian Penal Code along with Section 13(2) read with Section 13(1)(d) of the Prevention of Corruption Act against RCOM, Anil Ambani and others.
Reliance Communication and its group companies obtained loans from domestic and foreign lenders from 2010 to 2012 onwards, with the total outstanding amounting to Rs 40,185 crore. The agency also alleges that the five banks declared the group’s loan accounts to be frauds.
The agency investigated the fraud and learned that loans taken by one entity from a bank were used to repay loans taken by other entities from other banks, transfers to related parties, and investments in mutual funds, which is inconsistent with the terms and conditions of the loan sanction letter.
During further investigation, the agency found that in particular, RCOM and its group companies allegedly transferred more than Rs 13,600 crore for loan rollover, more than Rs 12,600 crore was allegedly transferred to associated parties, and more than Rs 1,800 crore was invested in fixed deposits, mutual funds etc which were substantially liquidated for redirection to group entities. There was significant misuse of invoice discounting for the purpose of transferring funds to related parties, which the agency also discovered during the investigation. Even some loans were taken outside India through foreign remittances, the statement says. The total attachments in these cases amount to over Rs 7,545 crore.
RCOM issued a statement, “The Reliance Center-Delhi (RCD) and Dhirubhai Ambani Knowledge City ((DAKC)) in Navi Mumbai are assets of Reliance Communication (RCOM). Reliance Communication Ltd has been undergoing a corporate insolvency resolution process for over six years. Matters relating to the RCOM resolution are pending before the NCLT and the Supreme Court of India. Anil D Ambani served as a non-executive employee on the Board of RCOM and resigned from that position in 2019, Six years ago.
(Tags for translation) Dhirubhai Ambani Knowledge City Properties Attached
