ED quizzes Anil Ambani for 5 hours today in bank loan fraud case, summons him again
The Enforcement Directorate has summoned Reliance Group Chairman Anil Ambani for a second round of questioning in connection with money laundering charges linked to Rs 17,000 crore in alleged bank loan frauds.
He was questioned for over five hours on Tuesday afternoon.
The Reliance Group boss has been asked to appear again after a week.
The probe agency on Tuesday asked Ambani about the alleged diversion of loans to shell companies. Whether money was channelled to political parties, and if he had bribed officials, NDTV reported, quoting sources.
According to reports, Ambani told the ED that he did not know several of the alleged fraudulent transactions and loan disbursals.
Anil Ambani, 66, was not allowed to have a lawyer present during the questioning, which was videotaped and will be accepted by courts as evidence if the matter goes to trial.
The Enforcement Directorate on Friday issued a lookout notice against him in connection with the money laundering case.
With this, Anil Ambani cannot travel outside India without court permission.
The notice followed a series of raids on his business entities, allegations of fraud against his firms, and a summons issued by a federal agency.
According to a preliminary probe by the ED, companies linked to Anil Ambani engaged in a carefully designed scheme to divert public funds and mislead financial institutions.
This reportedly involved illegal diversion of loans worth around Rs 3,000 crore from Yes Bank between 2017 and 2019.
The agency had found that the promoters of the bank had also received payments just before the loans were sanctioned, indicating a quid pro quo arrangement.
The ED conducted raids at over 50 firms connected to the case on July 24 and continued them for at least three days. The raids were conducted under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act.
Two group companies, Reliance Power and Reliance Infrastructure, had informed the stock exchanges that while they acknowledge the action taken against them, the raids had "absolutely no impact" on their business operations, financial performance, shareholders, employees, or any other stakeholders.
"The media reports appear to pertain to allegations concerning transactions of Reliance Communications Limited (RCOM) or Reliance Home Finance Limited (RHFL) which are over 10 years old," the companies had said.
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