ED Tightens Noose in RCOM Bank Fraud Case, Attaches Rs 7,500 Crore Assets Including 132-Acre Land

The Enforcement Directorate on Monday provisionally attached over 132 acres of land in Dhirubhai Ambani Knowledge City in Navi Mumbai. The land is valued at Rs 4,462 crore. The total cumulative attachment

in the group stands at Rs 7,500 crore.The attachment has been carried out under provisions of money laundering in the ongoing probe in the Reliance Communications Ltd bank fraud case, said ED.Reliance Infrastructure issued a statement and said, "We wish to inform that certain assets of the Company have been provisionally attached by ED for the alleged violations under PMLA. There is no impact on the business operations, shareholders, employees, or any other stakeholders of Reliance Infrastructure Limited. Mr. Anil D. Ambani is not on the Board of Reliance Infrastructure Limited for more than 3.5 years."Last Friday, the anti-money laundering federal probe agency provisionally attached assets of Anil Ambani and his group of companies to the tune of ₹3,084 crore. The attached assets include his residence in Pali Hill, office spaces in Delhi, Noida, Mumbai, and other places."From around 2010-12 onwards, RCOM and its group companies raised thousands of crores from Indian banks, of which ₹19,694 crore still remains outstanding. ED investigation revealed that loans taken by one entity from one bank were utilized for repayment of loans taken by other entities from other banks, transfer to related parties, and investments in mutual funds, which was in contravention to the terms and conditions of the sanction letter of the loan. Certain loans were siphoned off outside India through foreign outward remittances," ED said in a statement."The routing was through many shell entities effectively controlled by the Reliance Anil Ambani group. Public funds moved under the cover of corporate loans and inter-corporate deposits. Money passed from one company to another. Although RHFL is a housing finance company, its loan book shifted heavily to corporate loans. The National Housing Bank imposed a monetary penalty on RHFL for regulatory breaches," the probe agency alleged.In August, Anil Ambani was questioned at ED headquarters. He has not been summoned since then.In the RCOM case, the ED stated that its money laundering probe stems from a CBI FIR filed against RCOM, Mr. Anil Ambani, and others.ED Allegations:(a) RCOM and its group companies availed loans from domestic and foreign lenders from the period of 2010-2012 onwards, of which a total amount of ₹40,185 crore is outstanding. Five banks have declared the loan accounts of the Group as fraud.(b) ED investigation has revealed that loans taken by one entity from one bank were utilized for repayment of loans taken by other entities from other banks, transfer to related parties, and investments in mutual funds, which was in contravention to the terms and conditions of the sanction letter of the loans.(c) RCOM and its group companies diverted over ₹13,600 crore for evergreening of loans; over ₹12,600 crore was diverted to connected parties, and over ₹1,800 crore was invested in FDs/MFs, etc., which was substantially liquidated for rerouting to group entities."Huge misuse of bill discounting for the purpose of funneling funds to connected parties. Certain loans were siphoned off outside India through foreign outward remittances," said ED on Monday.The Enforcement Directorate has also said it is actively pursuing perpetrators of financial crime and is committed to restituting proceeds of crime to their rightful claimants.