ED Attaches More Assets in Anil Ambani Case; Family Says They’re ‘Legacy’, Charitable Properties
New Delhi: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Tuesday (April 28) attached another set of assets worth Rs 3,034.90 crore in connection with the Reliance Communications Ltd. bank fraud case under PMLA, 2002, linked to businessman Anil Ambani.
The provisional attachments, as per ED, included a Mumbai flat, a Khandala farmhouse, land parcels in Sanand, Ahmedabad, and shares worth Rs 7.71 crore of Reliance Infrastructure held under RiseE Trust Structure.
“Total attachment in Reliance Anil Ambani Group cases now exceeds Rs. 19,344 crore,” the probe agency stated.
This still leaves nearly half of the alleged fraud amount to be recovered.
However, a statement by the Ambani family said that at least two of the properties were “legacy family asset”, while the land in Sanand belongs to MICA, an AICTE-recognised charitable educational institution that has operated independently since 1991.
Regarding the shares, they said that the shareholding has been publicly disclosed on the stock exchanges since 2021.
According to the ED, the RiseE Trust was set up to “ensure wealth preservation and resource generation by aggregation of properties in RiseE Trust and shield it from the personal liabilities of Anil Ambani in the form of Personal Guarantees extended by him to lender banks against the loans sanctioned to RCOM”.
The properties were intended to be beneficially used and owned by the Anil Ambani family and not for the distressed public banks whose loans turned NPA, the agency said.
Meanwhile, the family statement said that the provisional attachment is not a finding of guilt and that the affected parties will respond before the adjudicating authority.
The ED has been investigating the case based on multiple Central Bureau of Investigation FIRs based on complaints of State Bank of India, Punjab National Bank, Bank of Baroda, and Life Insurance Corporation of India, against Reliance Communications, Anil Ambani, and others.
In the past, the agency has attached 32 acres of land of Dhirubhai Ambani Knowledge City (DAKC) in Navi Mumbai worth over Rs. 4,462 Crores, his family residence at Pali Hill, Bandra (West), and the Reliance Centre on Maharaja Ranjeet Singh Road in Delhi, among other properties.
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