New Delhi: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has attached assets worth over Rs 7,500 crore linked to Reliance Group Chairman Anil Ambani, his companies, and associated entities in a major money laundering probe.
The agency said on Monday that it issued four provisional attachment orders under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) on October 31, covering 42 properties, including Ambani’s Pali Hill residence in Mumbai and various commercial assets across multiple cities. A fifth order issued on November 4 attached 32 acres of Dhirubhai Ambani Knowledge City (DAKC) in Navi Mumbai, valued at Rs 4,462 crore, in connection with an alleged bank fraud involving Reliance Communications Ltd (RCOM).
The attached assets span Delhi, Mumbai, Pune, Thane, Noida, Ghaziabad, Hyderabad, Chennai, and East Godavari. They include Reliance Centre in Delhi, offices in Mumbai’s Nagin Mahal, and residential properties in Noida and Hyderabad.
According to the ED, the total value of the attached properties exceeds Rs 7,545 crore. The agency accused various Reliance Anil Ambani Group companies—RCOM, Reliance Home Finance (RHFL), Reliance Commercial Finance (RCFL), Reliance Infrastructure (R-Infra), and Reliance Power—of diverting and siphoning public funds through complex transactions and shell companies.
A separate probe under the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) found that Rs 40 crore from the Jaipur-Reengus highway project was diverted abroad through Surat-based shell companies to Dubai, allegedly forming part of a hawala network exceeding Rs 600 crore.
The ED claimed that between 2010 and 2012, RCOM and its affiliates raised thousands of crores from Indian banks, of which Rs 19,694 crore remains outstanding. The loans later turned into non-performing assets (NPAs), with five banks flagging them as fraudulent.
Funds borrowed by one group company were allegedly used to repay loans of another, transferred to related parties, or invested in mutual funds, violating loan conditions. The agency alleged over Rs 13,600 crore was diverted for “evergreening” loans, Rs 12,600 crore routed to connected entities, and Rs 1,800 crore invested in fixed deposits and mutual funds.
It also pointed to investments by Yes Bank, which between 2017 and 2019 put Rs 2,965 crore in RHFL and Rs 2,045 crore in RCFL instruments, both of which became NPAs by December 2019. The ED said RHFL and RCFL had received over Rs 10,000 crore in public funds, much of it indirectly routed through Reliance Nippon Mutual Fund despite conflict-of-interest rules under SEBI norms.
The agency alleged “a pattern of mala fide conduct” involving pre-decided beneficiaries, falsified paperwork, and rapid fund transfers to related entities, enabling large-scale diversion of public money.
Reliance Infrastructure, in a stock exchange filing, said the attachments had no impact on its operations or stakeholders, noting that Anil Ambani has not been on its board for over three years.
The ED said its actions aim to recover and restore losses to lenders under provisions of the PMLA. Ambani was questioned by the agency in August after searches at 35 premises linked to 50 companies and 25 individuals. The money laundering probe is based on an FIR filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).