The assistant to Anil Ambani, the Chairman of Reliance Group, and a high-ranking official at Reliance Power Limited, Ashok Kumar Pal, was detained on Saturday due to accusations of money laundering related to a fraudulent bank guarantee case. The Enforcement Directorate (ED) arrested Pal based on the rules set by the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). Officials stated that Pal, who has served as the Chief Financial Officer at Reliance Power for more than seven years, presented a fake bank guarantee exceeding Rs 68 crore to the Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI), a government company under the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy. To make the phony bank guarantee appear real, Pal utilized fake email addresses that mimicked commercial banks, including 'This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.', 'Indiabank.in', 'Indusindbank.in', 'pnbIndia.in', 'psdbank.co.in', 'siliguripnb.co.in', 'lobbank.co.in', and 'unionbankofIndia.co.in', which all had slight spelling changes or character swaps.
Pal was known to approve fund releases and manage documents through Telegram or WhatsApp, according to the investigation agency. The inquiry also uncovered that Reliance Power had provided a bank guarantee from FirstRand Bank located in Manila, Philippines. However, the branch mentioned does not exist in the Philippines. Another significant participant in the supposed scam is Biswal Tradelink, a small business based in Odisha that operates from a home address and lacks any reliable history of bank guarantees or vendor verification. The investigation found that this business only existed on paper, and no official company records were discovered at its registered location. The director of Biswas Sarathi was arrested in August for presenting fake guarantees totaling Rs 68.2 crore, according to sources. These guarantees were reportedly arranged for Reliance Power.
Anil Ambani is reportedly involved in a case of money laundering linked to supposed financial misconduct and a loan "diversion" amounting to over Rs 17,000 crore by several of his companies, including Reliance Infrastructure. The first claim involves the "unlawful" diversion of approximately Rs 3,000 crore, provided by Yes Bank to Anil Ambani's companies from 2017 to 2019. The second claim points to a similar scam - but on a much larger scale - exceeding Rs 14,000 crore, allegedly done by Reliance Communications. The investigation also identified cases where loans were given to firms with weak or unverified financial backgrounds, the presence of shared directors and addresses, missing important documents, channeling money to fake companies, and instances of 'loan evergreening'. Sources indicate that early findings show some loans were approved and disbursed on the same day as the application was submitted, while others were redirected even before they received 'approval'.
As a result, the investigation agency carried out raids in July this year related to the suspected bank loan fraud and money laundering case, alongside many other claims of financial misconduct involving massive amounts by certain companies.
Recently, the investigation agency has called Anil Ambani in for questioning and requested information from 12 to 13 banks about the thorough checks done when loans were issued to Reliance Housing Finance, Reliance Communications, and Reliance Commercial Finance.
