The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Friday questioned Anil Ambani’s son, Jai Anmol Ambani, in connection with a bank fraud case, officials said. Last December, the anti-corruption probe agency had registered a bank fraud case against Jai Anmol Ambani, Reliance Housing Finance Limited (RHFL), and Ravindra Sudhalkar, former CEO and then whole-time director of RHFL, in connection with an alleged fraud worth Rs 228.06 crore.
The CBI had registered the case after receiving a written complaint from a bank which alleged offences of cheating, criminal conspiracy and criminal misconduct by RHFL, Jai Anmol Anil Ambani, others and unknown public servants. The FIR states that the alleged offence period was between 2016 and 2019. The CBI had also carried out searches at premises linked to Jai Anmol before registering the FIR.
“Erstwhile promoters/directors of the borrower company, Jai Anmol Anil Ambani and Ravindra Sharad Sudhalkar, were in charge of and responsible for the day-to-day affairs and business decisions of the company during the relevant period. It is clear that they entered into a criminal conspiracy with their associates and, with the mala fide intention to cheat the lenders, including the complainant bank, misutilised the loan funds and diverted them through sister/associate concerns, resulting in misappropriation of funds and criminal breach of trust,” the CBI FIR alleged.
ED Questions Jai Anmol Ambani
ED has also questioned Jai Anmol Ambani in an alleged money laundering offence revolving around bank fraud, last December. A week ago, the CBI had filed a third FIR against Anil Ambani, Reliance Communications (RCOM) and others in a bank fraud case worth Rs 1,085 crore.
The complainant in the case is Punjab National Bank. The CBI registered the FIR under sections related to cheating, criminal conspiracy and provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act.
In the third FIR filed against Anil Ambani and others, the CBI alleged that it received a complaint on March 2 from Punjab National Bank against Reliance Communications Limited, Anil Dhirajlal Ambani, erstwhile director of Reliance Communications Limited, Manjari Ashok Kacker, erstwhile director of Reliance Communications Limited, and unknown persons and unknown public servants.
They were accused of inducing and thereby cheating Punjab National Bank and United Bank of India (since merged with PNB) during the period between April 1, 2013, and March 31, 2017, causing a wrongful loss of Rs 1,085.19 crore to the banks (Rs 621.39 crore to Punjab National Bank and Rs 463.80 crore to United Bank of India).
“The aforesaid complaint from Punjab National Bank, prima facie, discloses commission of offences under sections 120B and 420 of the Indian Penal Code and Section 13(2) read with 13(1)(d) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 on the part of Reliance Communications Limited, Anil Dhirajlal Ambani, Manjari Ashok Kacker, unknown persons and unknown public servants,” the FIR said.
CBI Second FIR Filed Last Month
A month ago the CBI filed a second FIR against Anil Ambani and RCOM based on a complaint filed by Bank of Baroda.
“The allegations in the FIR are that Bank of Baroda suffered a loss of more than Rs 2,220 crore due to loans availed by Reliance Communications which were allegedly diverted and misutilised by creating fictitious transactions with related parties. The books of accounts of Reliance Communications Ltd were manipulated and irregularities concealed,” the CBI said in a statement.
“The account was declared a non-performing asset in 2017. However, based on a petition filed by Anil Ambani before the Bombay High Court, there was a stay on declaring the accounts as fraud. The stay was vacated on February 23, after which Bank of Baroda lodged the complaint and the CBI immediately took up the case,” the agency said.
The CBI is also investigating Reliance Communications based on a complaint lodged by the State Bank of India (SBI), the lead bank of a consortium of 11 banks. The alleged bank fraud in that case is worth Rs 40,000 crore.
On the day the CBI registered the second FIR against him, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) questioned Anil Ambani in connection with a money laundering probe linked to the SBI bank fraud case. He was let off after about 10 hours of questioning.
