New Delhi: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has provisionally attached Anil Ambani’s Pali Hill residential property, ‘Abode’, valued at Rs 3,716.83 crore, in connection with the Reliance Communications Ltd (RCOM) bank fraud case, according to an official statement issued on Wednesday.
The ED, Special Task Force Headquarters, attached the property under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002. Part of this property had earlier been attached to the extent of Rs 473.17 crore. With this move, the cumulative attachment of Anil Ambani Group properties exceeds Rs 15,700 crore, the financial investigative agency said.
The investigation was initiated based on a CBI 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 had availed loans from domestic and foreign lenders, with a total outstanding amount of Rs 40,185 crore.
The ED’s probe revealed that the Pali Hill property was aggregated into the RiseE Trust, a private family trust of Anil Ambani’s family, to create the appearance that he did not own it personally. The corporate restructuring was reportedly aimed at preserving wealth and generating resources while shielding the property from Anil Ambani’s personal liabilities arising from guarantees extended to banks for loans sanctioned to RCOM. The property was intended for the benefit of the Ambani family, not the distressed public banks whose loans turned non-performing assets (NPA), the ED said.
Further investigations in the case are ongoing, the statement added.
With IANS inputs