Reliance Infrastructure Limited on Monday said that certain assets of the company have been provisionally attached by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), but clarified that the move has “no impact” on its business operations or stakeholders.
In a statement, the company said, “We wish to inform that certain assets of the company have been provisionally attached by the ED for the alleged violations under PMLA. There is no impact on the business operations, shareholders, employees or any other stakeholders of Reliance Infrastructure Limited.”
It further added that “Mr Anil D Ambani is not on the Board of Reliance Infrastructure Limited for more than 3.5 years.”
The clarification came shortly after the ED announced that it had attached over 132 acres of land at Dhirubhai Ambani Knowledge City (DAKC) in Navi Mumbai worth Rs 4,462.81 crore, as part of its probe into bank fraud cases involving Reliance Communications Ltd (RCOM), Reliance Commercial Finance Ltd and Reliance Home Finance Ltd.
With this, the total attachment of assets linked to the Anil Ambani-led Reliance Group now stands at more than Rs 7,500 crore.
According to the ED, the investigation – based on a CBI FIR against RCOM, Anil Ambani, and others – found that group companies availed loans worth over Rs 40,000 crore from domestic and foreign lenders between 2010 and 2012, a portion of which was allegedly diverted for loan evergreening, related-party transactions, and foreign remittances.
The agency has said it is pursuing the recovery of proceeds of crime and ensuring restitution to the rightful claimants.