The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Friday issued a Look Out Circular (LOC) against debt ridden Reliance Group Chairman Anil Ambani over the alleged loan fraud case. The ED summoned Ambani for questioning on August 5 at head quarters. The summons relates to an ongoing investigation into an alleged `17,000 crore loan fraud case involving his company.
Earlier on the day, ED has summoned Ambani (66) for questioning on August 5 in a money laundering case linked to bank loan fraud case worth crores of rupees against his group companies. The Look Out Circular was issued against the industrialist to stop him from travelling abroad, said officials.
Some executives of Ambani’s group companies have been also been summoned over the next few days. The summons come after the federal agency conducted searches at 35 premises of 50 companies and 25 people, including executives of his business group, last week. The searches, launched on July 24, went on for three days.
The action pertains to financial irregularities and collective loan “diversion” pegged at more than `17,000 crore by multiple group companies of Anil Ambani, including Reliance Infrastructure (R Infra).
The agency found, on the basis of a SEBI report, that R Infra “diverted” funds disguised as inter-corporate deposits (ICDs) to Reliance Group companies through a company named CLE. It is alleged that R Infra did not disclose CLE as its “related party” to avoid approvals from shareholders and audit panels.
The ED is also looking at allegations of illegal loan diversion of around `3,000 crore, given by Yes Bank to the group companies of Ambani between 2017-2019. The officials said, the agency has found that just before the loan was granted, Yes Bank promoters “received” money in their concerns. The agency is also investigating this nexus of bribe and the loan.
The officials said the ED is also probing allegations of “gross violations” in Yes Bank loan approvals to these companies, including charges such as back-dated credit approval memorandums and investments proposed without any due diligence/credit analysis in violation of the bank’s credit policy. The loans were diverted to many group companies and shell (bogus) companies by the entities involved.
The money laundering case stems from at least two CBI FIRs and reports shared by National Housing Bank, SEBI, National Financial Reporting Authority and Bank of Baroda with the ED, they had said.