Anil Ambani under CBI scanner: RCom premises searched in loan fraud probe

Anil Ambani Under CBI Scanner: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Saturday filed a case against Reliance Communications and conducted searches at its offices in connection with an alleged bank fraud that reportedly caused losses exceeding Rs 2,000 crore to the State Bank of India, officials told PTI. 

The agency on Saturday conducted searches at premises associated with Reliance Communications (RCom) and its promoter Anil Ambani, in connection with an alleged bank loan fraud case, officials told PTI. The CBI has also registered an FIR in the matter.

This action comes weeks after the Enforcement Directorate (ED) questioned Ambani for nearly 10 hours on August 5 in a related money laundering investigation concerning loans taken by his group companies, including Reliance Home Finance Ltd (RHFL), Reliance Commercial Finance Ltd (RCFL), and RCom. 

Anil Ambani arrived at the Enforcement Directorate’s (ED) Delhi office around 10:50 am and departed close to 9 pm. He was summoned in connection with an investigation under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

The entities were classified as fraudulent on June 13 under the RBI’s Master Directions on Fraud Risk Management and the bank’s Board-approved Policy on Classification, Reporting, and Management of Frauds, Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary stated in a written reply to the Lok Sabha last month.

According to ED records, Reliance Home Finance Ltd (RHFL) owes over Rs 5,901 crore, Reliance Commercial Finance Ltd (RCFL) more than Rs 8,226 crore, and Reliance Communications (RCom) nearly Rs 4,105 crore to a consortium of around 20 public and private sector banks, including Yes Bank, State Bank of India, Axis Bank, ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, Bank of India, UCO Bank, and Punjab & Sind Bank.