RCOM Fraud Heat Intensifies: ED Freezes Properties Worth ₹1,452 Cr Across Four Cities
(By Syed Ali Taher Abedi)
In a major development in the RCOM fraud case, the Directorate of Enforcement’s Special Task Force, Headquarters, has provisionally attached properties valued at Rs. 1,452.51 crore under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002. The attached assets include multiple buildings in Dhirubhai Ambani Knowledge City (DAKC) and Millennium Business Park, Navi Mumbai, along with land and buildings in Pune, Chennai, and Bhubaneswar, taking the cumulative value of group attachments close to Rs. 9,000 crores.
It is pertinent to note that the Enforcement Directorate (ED) had previously attached assets valued at over ₹7,545 crore in connection with bank fraud cases involving Reliance Communications Ltd. (RCOM), Reliance Commercial Finance Ltd., and Reliance Home Finance Ltd. The ED’s investigation was initiated on the basis of an FIR registered by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) under various provisions of the Indian Penal Code, 1860, and the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1989, naming RCOM, Anil Ambani, and others. Between 2010 and 2012, RCOM and its group entities secured loans from both domestic and international lenders, of which an outstanding liability of ₹40,185 crore remains.
A total of nine banks has classified the Group’s loan accounts as fraudulent. The Enforcement Directorate’s investigation uncovered that funds borrowed by one entity from a particular bank were diverted towards repaying loans of other group entities from different banks, transferring amounts to related parties, and making investments in mutual funds—actions that were in clear violation of the terms and conditions stipulated in the respective loan sanction letters.
In particular, RCOM and its group companies diverted over Rs. 13,600 Crore for evergreening of loans; over Rs. 12,600 Crore was diverted to connected parties and over Rs. 1,800 Crore was invested in FDs/MFs etc., which was substantially liquidated for rerouting to group entities. Huge misuse of bill discounting for the purpose of funnelling funds to connected parties has also been detected by ED. Certain loans were siphoned off outside India through foreign outward remittances. The total attachment in these cases stands at Rs. 8,997 Crore. ED is actively pursuing perpetrators of financial crimes and is committed to resituating Proceeds of Crime to their rightful claimants. Further investigation is under progress
