NEW DELHI: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has seized properties belonging to Anil Ambani’s Reliance Group, valued at over Rs 3,000 crore, including his Pali Hill residence and several assets spread across major Indian cities.
The agency said it has provisionally attached properties worth about Rs 3,084 crore linked to entities of the group. The orders were issued on Friday under Section 5(1) of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), following which properties across Delhi, Noida, Ghaziabad, Mumbai, Pune, Thane, Hyderabad, Chennai, Kancheepuram, and East Godavari were attached.
The case pertains to the diversion and laundering of public funds raised by Reliance Home Finance Ltd (RHFL) and Reliance Commercial Finance Ltd (RCFL). Between 2017 and 2019, Yes Bank invested Rs 2,965 crore in RHFL instruments and Rs 2,045 crore in RCFL instruments, which turned into non-performing investments by December 2019. At that time, Rs 1,353.50 crore remained outstanding for RHFL and Rs 1,984 crore for RCFL.
According to the ED, direct investment by the erstwhile Reliance Nippon Mutual Fund into Anil Ambani Group’s financial companies was not legally permissible under SEBI’s mutual fund conflict of interest framework. In violation of these guidelines, funds invested by the general public in the mutual fund were allegedly routed indirectly through Yes Bank exposures, which ultimately reached Anil Ambani Group entities.
The probe revealed that funds were routed through Yes Bank’s exposures to RHFL and RCFL, which then extended loans to entities linked to the Reliance Anil Ambani Group. The ED’s fund tracing indicated diversion of funds, on-lending to group-linked entities, and ultimate siphoning off.
Substantial portions of General Purpose Corporate Loans landed in Reliance Group accounts. The ED found serious control failures during the loan disbursal process — several loans were sanctioned, processed, and even disbursed on the same day, in some cases even before the loan application was filed.
Field investigations and personal discussions were waived, documents were left blank or overwritten, borrowers had weak financials or negligible operations, and securities were either unregistered or left incomplete. The ED has termed these lapses “intentional and consistent control failures”.
The agency has also intensified its probe into Reliance Communications Ltd (RCOM) and related companies, alleging loan fraud and fund diversion. The ED found that RCOM and its affiliates diverted over Rs 13,600 crore, of which Rs 12,600 crore was funneled to connected parties and Rs 1,800 crore was invested in fixed deposits and mutual funds — later liquidated and rerouted to group entities.
Huge misuse of bill discounting for funneling funds to connected parties has also been detected, the ED said. The agency continues to trace proceeds of crime and secure attachments of properties, stating that recoveries would ultimately benefit the general public.
