Anil Ambani skips ED summons again to appear at its Delhi headquarters

New Delhi: Reliance ADAG Group Chairman Anil Ambani has skipped the Enforcement Directorate’s (ED) summons for the second time to appear for questioning at the investigative agency’s Delhi headquarters on Monday in a FEMA investigation linked to the Jaipur–Reengus highway project, according to sources.

Anil Ambani had also missed Friday’s in-person questioning after the agency rejected his request for a virtual hearing. He again sought permission to appear virtually on Monday.

According to ED sources, the agency is seeking to record his statement under FEMA in a probe that began after allegations that about Rs 40 crore from the 2010 highway project, awarded to Reliance Infra, was siphoned abroad through Surat-based shell companies and routed to Dubai.

Investigators also believe the money trail is connected to a larger international hawala network estimated at more than Rs 600 crore.

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Anil Ambani had sent a request via email for a virtual appearance before ED on Friday in response to the earlier summons. However, the financial investigative agency rejected this request and decided to issue him another summons to appear personally on November 17.

A Reliance group spokesperson said in a latest statement that “ Mr Anil Ambani has offered to make himself available for the recording of his statement, at any date and time suitable to ED, via virtual appearance/ recorded video.”

“Anil D. Ambani is not a member of the Board of Reliance Infrastructure. He served the company for about fifteen years, from April 2007 to March 2022, only as a non-executive director, and was never involved in day-to-day management of the company,” the spokesperson further stated.

The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has been operating the road for over four years. This was purely a domestic contract with no foreign exchange contract whatsoever, the spokesperson added.

Earlier, Ambani faced a gruelling around nine-hour interrogation regarding an alleged Rs 17,000-crore loan fraud case at ED headquarters in August.

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The development comes close on the heels of ED provisionally attaching over 132 acres of land worth Rs 4,462.81 crore in Dhirubhai Ambani Knowledge City at Navi Mumbai under the provisions of Prevention of Money Laundering Act.

ED had earlier attached 42 properties worth over Rs 3,083 crore in the bank fraud cases of Reliance Communications Ltd. (RCOM), Reliance Commercial Finance Ltd., and Reliance Home Finance Ltd.

“The total attachment in these cases stands at over Rs 7,545 crore. ED is actively pursuing perpetrators of financial crime and is committed to restituting the proceeds of crime to their rightful claimants,” according to an official statement.

ED had initiated investigation based on CBI’s FIR under sections 120-B, 406 and 420 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 and section 13(2) read with section 13(1)(d) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1989 against RCOM, Anil Ambani, and others.

RCOM and its group companies availed loans from domestic and foreign lenders from the period of 2010-2012 onwards, of which a total amount of Rs 40,185 crore is outstanding. Five banks have declared the loan accounts of the Group as fraud, the statement said.