New Delhi: Reliance ADAG Group Chairman Anil Ambani has failed to appear before the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Monday for questioning at its Delhi headquarters for the second time, in connection with a FEMA investigation linked to the Jaipur–Reengus highway project.
Ambani had earlier missed Friday’s summons after the agency rejected his request for a virtual hearing. He again sought permission to appear virtually on Monday, but the ED insisted on his physical presence.
According to investigators, the probe centres on allegations that around ₹40 crore from the 2010 highway project awarded to Reliance Infra was siphoned abroad through Surat-based shell companies and routed to Dubai. Officials believe the money trail is tied to a wider hawala network estimated at over ₹600 crore.
A Reliance group spokesperson said Ambani had offered to make himself available “at any date and time suitable to ED” via virtual appearance or recorded video. The spokesperson clarified that Ambani was not a member of Reliance Infrastructure’s board and had only served as a non-executive director between April 2007 and March 2022, without involvement in day-to-day management. The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), they added, has been operating the road for more than four years under a purely domestic contract with no foreign exchange component.
Ambani previously faced a nine-hour interrogation at ED headquarters in August over an alleged ₹17,000-crore loan fraud case. The latest development follows ED’s provisional attachment of 132 acres of land worth ₹4,462.81 crore in Dhirubhai Ambani Knowledge City, Navi Mumbai, under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act.
Earlier, the agency had attached 42 properties worth over ₹3,083 crore in bank fraud cases involving Reliance Communications Ltd. (RCOM), Reliance Commercial Finance Ltd., and Reliance Home Finance Ltd. The total attachment in these cases now stands at over ₹7,545 crore.
The ED investigation stems from a CBI FIR against RCOM, Ambani and others under sections of the Indian Penal Code and the Prevention of Corruption Act. RCOM and its group companies had availed loans from domestic and foreign lenders between 2010 and 2012, with outstanding dues of ₹40,185 crore. Five banks have since declared the accounts fraudulent.
(Inputs from IANS)