Anil Ambani summoned by ED to appear on November 14 in ₹2,929 crore Reliance Communications money laundering case

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has issued fresh summons to Reliance Group chairman Anil Ambani for questioning next week in an alleged bank fraud linked-money laundering case, sources said.

The 66-year-old businessman was questioned by the federal probe agency in August for around ten hours.

He has been asked to depose on November 14 for questioning in a money laundering case linked to a case against Reliance Communication Ltd. (RCom) for an alleged ₹2,929 crore loan fraud with the SBI, they said.

Once he deposes, the agency will record his statement under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) like the last time, the sources said.

This ED probe stems from an August 21 registered FIR of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

The CBI had also carried out searches in this case, including at the premises of Mr. Ambani in Mumbai.

The CBI FIR had booked the criminal case against RCom, Mumbai, its Director Anil D. Ambani, unknown public servants and unknown others on the basis of a complaint from the State Bank of India (SBI).

According to the SBI complaint, annexed in the CBI FIR, the company (RCom) had an outstanding of over ₹40,000 crore to various lenders with the public sector bank alone facing a loss of ₹2929.05 crore, according to 2018 figures.

Following the August CBI action, a spokesperson for Mr. Ambani had said in a statement that the complaint filed by the SBI was linked to matters dating back more than 10 years and at the relevant time, Mr. Ambani was a non-executive director of the company, with no involvement in the day-to-day management.

“It is pertinent to note that SBI, by its own order, has already withdrawn proceedings against five other non-executive directors. Despite this, Ambani has been selectively singled out,” the statement had said.

The ED, in July, had carried out searches against the current and former executives of the group companies of Mr. Ambani and in August first week it questioned and recorded his (Ambani’s) statement.

The initial ED probe was related to alleged financial irregularities and collective loan “diversion” pegged at more than ₹17,000 crore by multiple group companies of Mr. Ambani, including Reliance Infrastructure (R Infra).

This also included the allegation of “illegal” loan diversion of around ₹3,000 crore, given by the Yes Bank to the group companies of Mr. Ambani between 2017 and 2019.

The agency recently attached assets worth ₹7,500 crore as part of its investigation against Mr. Ambani’s group companies. These included the house of the businessman in Mumbai’s Pali Hill area and the Reliance Centre land located in Delhi.