NEW DELHI: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Thursday grilled Reliance Group chairman Anil Ambani for over nine hours during the second round of questioning in connection with an alleged bank fraud-linked money laundering case related to his group firm RCOM, officials said.
He had been called again for questioning on Friday in a separate case linked to an alleged loan fraud against the Yes Bank, they said. The 66-year-old industrialist entered the federal probe agency’s office in central Delhi around 10:30 am and left around 8:20 pm.
The ED arrested former RCOM president Punit Garg as part of its investigation in January. The alleged laundered funds were “diverted” through multiple foreign subsidiaries and offshore entities of RCOM, the agency claimed earlier. Ambani and his multiple group companies are facing allegations of loan fraud, and the ED recently constituted a special investigation team (SIT) to probe all these instances.
The SIT was formed on recent directions of the Supreme Court. The ED on Wednesday attached Ambani’s Mumbai house, ‘Abode’, worth Rs 3,716 crore.
Meanwhile, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Thursday registered a second case against M/s Reliance Communications based on the complaint given by Bank of Baroda for offences of conspiracy, cheating under IPC and criminal misconduct and abuse of official position under Prevention of Corruption Act, against him, M/s Reliance Communications and others.
The allegations in the FIR are that Bank of Baroda has suffered a loss of more than Rs 2,220 crore due to the loans availed by M/s Reliance Communication that were allegedly diverted and mis-utilised by creating fictitious transactions with related parties.
After the registration of the case, the CBI has conducted searches at Anil’s residence and offices registered under M/s Reliance Communication Ltd. Various documents connected with these loan transactions have been recovered, and further investigation into the matter is underway.