https://www.mid-day.com/news/india-news/article/-anil-ambani-appears-before-ed-in-rs-17-000-crore-money-laundering-probe-23588121

Reliance Group Chairman Anil Ambani on Tuesday appeared before the Enforcement Directorate for questioning in a money laundering case. The case for which Anil Ambani was summoned by the Enforcement Directorate is linked to alleged multiple bank loan fraud cases. The case alleges bank loan fraud worth crores of rupees against his group companies, official sources said.

As reported by news agency PTI, Anil Ambani reached the office of the central probe agency in central Delhi around 11 am, where he was put under various questions related to bank loan fraud.

It has also been reported that the Enforcement Directorate will record the statement under the Protection of Money Laundering Act.

The summons from the investigative agency comes after they conducted searches at 35 premises of 50 companies and 25 people. Searches by the Enforcement Directorate were also conducted at the premises of his executives' business group in Mumbai on July 24.

As per the reports, the action pertains to alleged financial irregularities and collective loan "diversion" pegged at more than Rs 17,000 crore by multiple group companies of Anil Ambani, including Reliance Infrastructure (R Infra).

News agency PTI had reported that the first allegation pertains to the "illegal" loan diversion of around Rs 3,000 crore, given by the Yes Bank to the group companies of Ambani between 2017 and 2019.

As per the sources, the ED also suspects that just before the loan was granted, Yes Bank promoters "received" money in their companies, which indicates a lot of suspicion on Anil Ambani and his executives.

While the investigation agency is digging through the hole to find the nexus of "bribe" and the loan, Anil Ambani seems to be going through a lot of problems in the coming few days.

On the other hand, some of the sources have also said the ED is also probing allegations of "gross violations" in Yes Bank loan approvals to these companies, including charges such as backdated credit approval memoranda and investments proposed. The surprising thing about this process is that it was done without any due diligence or credit analysis in violation of the bank's credit policy, as per the news agency PTI.

The loans are alleged to have been "diverted" to many group companies and "shell" (bogus) companies by the entities involved.

Furthermore, the Enforcement Directorate is also hinting at some instances of loans given to entities with weak financials, a lack of proper documentation of loans and due diligence, and borrowers having common addresses and common directors in their companies, as per the reports from the PTI.

While commenting on this scenario, a Reliance group spokesperson had denied any wrongdoing and said in a statement that the allegation regarding the alleged diversion of Rs 10,000 crore to an undisclosed party was a 10-year-old matter and the company had stated in its financial statements that its exposure was only around Rs 6,500 crore.

He highlighted, "Through mandatory mediation proceedings conducted by a retired Supreme Court judge and the mediation award filed before the Hon'ble Bombay High Court, Reliance Infrastructure arrived at a settlement to recover its 100 per cent exposure of Rs 6,500 crore," as per news agency PTI.