ED Attaches Fresh Assets of Reliance Group, Total Value Exceeds Rs 10,000 Crore
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has taken a significant step in its ongoing money laundering probe against the companies of Reliance Group chairman Anil Ambani. The agency has attached fresh assets worth Rs 1,120 crore, including the Reliance Centre, a guesthouse, and residential properties in Mumbai, as well as 231 plots of land in Chennai. This latest action has brought the total value of attached assets to Rs 10,117 crore.
The properties belong to Reliance Home Finance Limited (RHFL) and Reliance Commercial Finance Limited (RCFL), and the probe is linked to an alleged fraud at Yes Bank. The ED had previously frozen assets worth more than Rs 8,997 crore of the business group.
Among the 18 immovable assets provisionally attached under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) are the Reliance Centre in Ballard Estate, a commercial office building of Reliance Infrastructure Limited in Andheri East, and residential properties and a guesthouse of Reliance Infrastructure Limited in Santacruz, all located in Mumbai. Additionally, 231 plots of land and seven residential flats in Chennai, belonging to Reliance Value Services Private Limited, have also been attached.
The Reliance Group has stated that all real estate assets at Ballard Estate, including the company’s assets valued at Rs 397.46 crore, are held on a long-term lease from the Bombay Port Trust (BPT). The movable assets that have been attached include fixed and bank deposits and shareholding in unquoted investments of the Reliance Anil Ambani Group, as well as some other entities. The total value of the attachment is Rs 1,120 crore, as per the ED.
The company has expressed its intent to take all “appropriate” action to protect the interests of its shareholders based on legal advice. It emphasized that the majority of the assets, valued at Rs 10,117 crore, pertained to Reliance Communications, a company that has not been part of the group since 2019. Furthermore, it noted that Mr. Anil D. Ambani has not served on the Board of Directors of Reliance Infrastructure Limited for more than three-and-a-half years.
The industrialist has been questioned by the ED as part of the money-laundering investigation linked to an alleged Rs 17,000-crore bank fraud against his group companies. The ED claims that during 2017-2019, Yes Bank invested Rs 2,965 crore in RHFL instruments and Rs 2,045 crore in RCFL instruments. By December 2019, these had become non-performing investments, with an outstanding amount of Rs 1,353.5 crore for RHFL and Rs 1,984 crore for RCFL. The probe found that the two companies received public funds worth more than Rs 11,000 crore.
The ED explained that before Yes Bank invested this money in Reliance Anil Ambani group companies, Yes Bank had received significant funds from the erstwhile Reliance Nippon Mutual Fund. According to SEBI regulations, Reliance Nippon Mutual Fund could not directly invest or divert funds into Anil Ambani group finance companies due to conflict-of-interest rules. Therefore, public money in mutual fund schemes was routed indirectly through Yes Bank’s exposures.
The public funds reached Anil Ambani group companies through a “circuitous” route, the agency said. The ED is “actively” pursuing perpetrators of financial crimes and is committed to restituting the proceeds of crime to their rightful claimants in this case.
