Cobrapost alleges Anil Ambani-led firms of fraud; group calls it ‘agenda-driven’ campaign

An investigation by Cobrapost, an Indian non-profit news website, has alleged that the Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group (Reliance ADA Group), led by Anil Ambani and his family, engaged in a “massive financial fraud” worth around ₹28,874 crore by diverting funds borrowed from public sector banks and investors to promoter-linked companies. The Reliance ADA group, however, has denied all allegations, calling them a “malicious campaign aimed at crashing stock prices.”

The Cobrapost report names six listed entities — Reliance Infrastructure Ltd, Reliance Capital Ltd, Reliance Communications Ltd, Reliance Home Finance Ltd, Reliance Commercial Finance Ltd and Reliance Corporate Advisory Services Ltd — as part of the alleged diversion.

Cobrapost claims the funds came from bank loans, IPO proceeds and bonds, and were rerouted through a web of domestic and offshore entities.

The investigation, it says draws on filings from the Ministry of Corporate Affairs, SEBI, NCLT, RBI and various court orders.

Offshore fund flow of $1.53 billion

Cobrapost claims that $1.53 billion (approx. ₹13,047.50) reached ADA Group companies from overseas sources “in a dubious manner.” It cites a transaction in which Singapore-based Emerging Market Investments & Trading Pte (EMITS) allegedly remitted $750 million to Reliance Innoventure Pvt Ltd, the holding company of the ADA Group, before being dissolved along with its subsidiaries.

“This way, both the entire foreign exchange remittance and the entities involved in the fund diversion were made to disappear,” the report says, adding that the method “can potentially classify as money laundering.”

The report claims the total alleged diversion — domestic and foreign — exceeded ₹41,921 crore, routed through “dozens of pass-through entities, subsidiaries, shell companies and offshore vehicles” in jurisdictions such as the British Virgin Islands, Cyprus, Mauritius, Singapore, the US and the UK.

Cobrapost editor Aniruddha Bahal said, “We discovered a ₹28,000 crore diversion and $ 1.5 billion coming from offshore accounts in a very dodgy way....... Total erosion of public wealth is ₹3,38,212 crore including loss of market cap and fraudulent loans.”

The report also recalls the acquisition of a luxury yacht by Anil Ambani in 2008.

"Our investigation shows that the Indian public paid approximately $20 million for it. This was done through an elaborate corporate structure. The purchase shows funds meant for business being diverted for personal luxuries," Bahal said.

Bahal added that Cobrapost sent a detailed questionnaire to Anil Ambani and Jai Anmol Ambani on October 19, with reminders on October 24 and 27, but instead received a legal notice from Reliance Infrastructure Ltd and Anil Ambani, “categorically denying all allegations.”

Commenting on the report, activist-lawyer Prashant Bhushan said, “This country is being systematically allowed to be looted and plundered by big corporate houses like ADAG.... I don’t have an iota of doubt that banks were aware.”

He added, “So many people have been arrested for lesser crimes, but someone who has siphoned ₹40,000 crore is roaming scot-free.”

Reliance ADA Group’s rebuttal

In a detailed statement, the Reliance ADA Group said the Cobrapost report is a “malicious campaign aimed at tarnishing its reputation and misleading stakeholders.”

It described Cobrapost as “a dead platform resurrected as a corporate hit-job — dormant since 2019, with zero journalistic credibility and a 100% track record of agenda-driven stings.”

The group alleged that the publication was “a deliberate campaign of calumny, disinformation, and character assassination … aimed at crashing the stock prices, and engineering panic in stock markets to acquire Reliance Group assets.”

The company added that Bahal “engaged in improper and coercive tactics that more than meets the eye,” and called the report “a recycling of old, publicly available information already examined by the CBI, ED, SEBI and other agencies.”

The statement said the investigation was “an organised attempt to prejudice a fair trial” and a “desperate attempt for extortion of concessions and other benefits.” Reliance Infrastructure Ltd and Reliance Power Ltd have also filed complaints with SEBI seeking a probe into recent trading patterns in their shares.

The group reiterated that “no court or tribunal has found them or any Reliance ADA Group entity guilty of any offence or financial wrongdoing.”