ED attaches Anil Ambani’s 3,716 cr house

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has provisionally attached the Rs 3,716.83 crore worth posh Pali Hill residential property ‘Abode’ of Anil Ambani in Reliance Communications Ltd’s bank fraud case, according to an official statement issued on Wednesday.

Enforcement Directorate (ED), Special Task Force, Headquarters has provisionally attached the Pali Hill residential property under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 (PMLA).

Earlier, part of this property was attached to the extent of Rs 473.17 crore, the statement issued by the financial investigative agency said.

This takes the cumulative attachment of properties of the Anil Ambani Group to over Rs 15,700 crore, according to the statement.

ED had initiated the 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 M/s Reliance Communications Ltd (RCOM), Anil Ambani, and others.

RCOM and its group companies availed loans from domestic and foreign lenders, of which a total amount of Rs 40,185 crore is outstanding.

The ED investigation has revealed that, among other assets, the Pali Hill property was aggregated into the RiseE Trust – a Private Family Trust of the members of Anil Ambani’s family. This was done to make it appear as though Anil Ambani is not involved in the ownership.

The intended effect of this corporate restructuring was to ensure wealth preservation and resource generation by aggregation of the property in the RiseE trust and shield it from the personal liabilities of Anil Ambani in the form of personal guarantees extended by him to lender banks against the loans sanctioned to RCOM. The property was intended to be beneficially used and owned by the Anil Ambani family and not for the distressed public banks whose loans turned NPA, the statement said.

Further investigations in the case are still in progress, the statement added.