The Enforcement Directorate attached assets worth over Rs 3,000 crore linked to Anil Ambani under PMLA, including Mumbai properties, as part of a money laundering probe involving multiple Reliance Group entities.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has provisionally attached assets exceeding Rs 3,000 crore linked to Anil Ambani, chairman of the Reliance Group, as part of a money laundering investigation involving several group entities.
The action has been carried out through four provisional attachment orders issued under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 (PMLA). The attached assets include Ambani’s high-value residential property located in Mumbai’s upscale Pali Hill locality, along with multiple residential and commercial properties held by Reliance Group companies.
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According to the ED,
“Directorate of Enforcement (ED), Special Task Force, Headquarters has provisionally attached the Pali Hill Residential Property ‘Abode’ of Mr. Anil Ambani, worth Rs 3,716.83 Crores under the provisions of Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 (PMLA). Earlier, part of this property was attached to the extent of Rs 473.17 crores.
Also attached a plot owned by Reliance Centre on Maharaja Ranjit Singh Marg in Delhi, as well as multiple assets in Delhi, Noida, Ghaziabad, Mumbai, Pune, Thane, Hyderabad, Chennai and East Godavari.
The total value of the attached properties is Rs 3,084 crore.
The ED’s findings indicate that the Pali Hill property, among other assets, had been transferred into the RiseE Trust, a private family trust associated with members of the Ambani family. Investigators believe this restructuring was aimed at creating an impression that Anil Ambani had no direct involvement in the ownership of the property.
The agency further alleges that this arrangement was designed to preserve wealth and generate resources while protecting the assets from personal liabilities arising out of guarantees extended by Ambani to banks for loans granted to Reliance Communications Ltd. (RCOM).
According to the ED, the property was intended for the benefit of the Ambani family rather than for recovery by public sector banks, whose loans later turned into non-performing assets (NPAs). The agency reiterated its commitment to safeguarding the financial system and protecting public funds by tracing and attaching proceeds of crime. Investigations in the matter are ongoing.
This enforcement action forms part of a wider probe into the alleged diversion and laundering of funds raised by Reliance Home Finance Ltd. (RHFL) and Reliance Commercial Finance Ltd. (RCFL). The ED has stated that Yes Bank invested Rs 2,965 crore in RHFL instruments and Rs 2,045 crore in RCFL instruments between 2017 and 2019. By December 2019, these investments had turned non-performing, with outstanding dues of Rs 1,353.50 crore in RHFL and Rs 1,984 crore in RCFL.
The investigation further suggests that several group entities, including Reliance Infrastructure, were involved in irregular financial transactions and diversion of funds exceeding Rs 17,000 crore.
Anil Ambani was questioned by the ED in August following extensive searches conducted in July across 35 locations linked to around 50 companies and 25 individuals, including senior executives of the Reliance Group. The probe was initiated on the basis of a complaint registered earlier by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
The ED began its investigation based on a First Information Report (FIR) filed by the CBI under Sections 120-B (criminal conspiracy), 406 (criminal breach of trust), and 420 (cheating) of the Indian Penal Code, 1860, along with Section 13(2) read with Section 13(1)(d) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1989. These charges were brought against RCOM, Anil Ambani, and others.
It has been noted that RCOM and its associated companies had secured loans from both domestic and international lenders, with an outstanding liability amounting to Rs 40,185 crore.
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