Anil Ambani appears before the ED in bank loan fraud case

The Anil Ambani reached the office of the central probe agency in central Delhi in an EV vehicle at around 10:50 am

August 5, 2025

ED questions Anil Ambani in Rs.17,000 crore loan diversion case

Reliance Group Chairman Anil Ambani on Tuesday appeared before the Enforcement Directorate (ED) here for questioning in a money laundering case linked to alleged multiple bank loan fraud cases worth crores of rupees against his group companies. The businessman reached the office of the central probe agency in central Delhi in an EV vehicle around 10:50 am. The statement of the 66-year-old debt-ridden businessman is recorded under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

The summons came after the agency conducted searches at 35 premises of 50 companies and 25 people, including executives of his business group, in Mumbai on July 24. The ED has notified a Look Out Circular (LOC), as per standard operating procedure in large bank ‘fraud’ cases, against Ambani even as some executives of his group have also been summoned to appear for questioning during the week as part of this probe.

In a related case, the ED had recently arrested Partha Sarathi Biswal, the MD of an Odisha-based company, for allegedly providing a fake bank guarantee of Rs.68 crore for an Anil Ambani Group company. Biswal will be confronted with Ambani during the latter’s questioning, the sources said.

The action against Ambani 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). The first allegation pertains to “illegal” loan diversion of around Rs.3,000 crore, given by the Yes Bank to the group companies of Ambani between 2017 and 2019.

The ED suspects, the sources said, that just before the loan was granted, Yes Bank promoters “received” money in their companies. The agency is investigating this nexus of bribery and the loan.

ED is also probing allegations of “gross violations” in Yes Bank loan approvals to these companies, including charges such as back-dated credit approval memoranda and investments proposed without any due diligence/ credit analysis in violation of the bank’s credit policy. The loans are diverted to many group companies and “shell” (bogus) companies by the entities involved.

The agency is also looking at some instances of loans given to entities with weak financials, a lack of proper documentation of loans and due diligence, borrowers having common addresses and common directors in their companies. The money laundering case stems from at least two CBI FIRs and reports shared by the National Housing Bank, SEBI, National Financial Reporting Authority, and Bank of Baroda with the ED, they had said.

These reports indicate there was a “well-planned and well-thought-out scheme” to divert or siphon off public money by cheating banks, shareholders, investors, and other public institutions. The other allegation being probed by the ED, on the basis of a SEBI report, is that R Infra “diverted” funds disguised as inter-corporate deposits (ICDs) to Reliance Group companies through a company named CLE. It is alleged that R Infra did not disclose CLE as its “related party” to avoid approvals from shareholders and audit panels.

The Union government had informed Parliament recently that the State Bank of India has classified RCOM along with Ambani as “fraud” and was also in the process of lodging a complaint with the CBI.

A bank loan “fraud” of more than Rs.1,050 crore between RCOM and Canara Bank is also under the ED scanner, apart from some “undisclosed” foreign bank accounts and assets, the sources said.

Reliance Mutual Fund is also stated to have invested Rs.2,850 crore in AT-1 bonds, and a “quid pro quo” is suspected here by the agency. Additional Tier 1 (AT-1) are perpetual bonds issued by banks to increase their capital base, and they are riskier than traditional bonds, having higher interest rates.

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