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The Enforcement Directorate has filed chargesheets in two separate money-laundering cases involving companies and former executives of the Reliance Anil Ambani Group. One prosecution complaint concerns Reliance Infrastructure and allegations of fund diversion linked to four NHAI-awarded toll-road projects. The second is a supplementary chargesheet in the Reliance Communications case involving alleged diversion and layering of credit facilities. The agency has alleged that funds were routed through shell entities and group companies for purposes unrelated to their sanctioned use. Assets worth INR 8,078 crore have been attached in the RCOM case.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has filed chargesheets in two separate money-laundering cases involving companies and former executives of the Reliance Anil Ambani Group (RAAG).
In the first case, the agency filed a prosecution complaint before a special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court in Dwarka against Reliance Infrastructure Limited, former Reliance Group executive Sateesh Seth and others. Seth was arrested by the ED in June and is currently in judicial custody. He left the Reliance Group in 2025.
The second case relates to a supplementary chargesheet filed before a special court at Rouse Avenue concerning Reliance Communications Limited (RCOM). The ED had filed the main chargesheet in this case in March.
RCOM, Reliance Telecom Limited (RTL), and former RAAG executives Seth, Gautam Doshi, Amitabh Jhunjhunwala and others have been named as accused under the PMLA. Doshi and Seth were arrested by the ED in June and July respectively and are currently in judicial custody. Doshi left the RAAG in 2020.
The Reliance Infrastructure case originates from a Mumbai Police Economic Offences Wing FIR, which alleged that shell companies were incorporated and operated using forged documents and bank accounts to route funds and outward remittances through fictitious invoices linked to over-valued diamond exports.
According to the ED's investigation, an organised scheme was used to divert public funds from four NHAI-awarded toll-road projects - Trichy-Karur on NH-67, Trichy-Dindigul on NH-45, Salem-Ulundurpet on NH-68 and Jaipur-Reengus on NH-11.
The projects were financed through NHAI grants as well as loans from banks and financial institutions. The agency has alleged that around INR 187 crore was siphoned off during September-October 2010 through sham, post-facto or back-dated arrangements for fictitious subcontracting work.
The ED said the money moved from Reliance Infrastructure, its project-specific special purpose vehicles or EPC contractors to construction contractors and subsequently to shell entities that had no connection with road construction. Documents were allegedly created later to show the transfers as genuine project expenditure, while the funds were layered through shell entities and diamond traders.
The agency has attached immovable assets and equity shares of Reliance Power Limited held by Reliance Infrastructure, along with land held in the name of Ksheeraabd Constructions, with a combined value of INR 187 crore. The ED said its investigation into the role of other individuals is continuing. The supplementary chargesheet in the RCOM case follows multiple CBI FIRs alleging diversion of fund-based and non-fund-based credit facilities by RCOM, RTL and Reliance Infratel Limited.
The ED's investigation has alleged that fresh credit facilities were repeatedly used to repay, rotate and evergreen earlier domestic and foreign liabilities instead of being used for their sanctioned purposes. The agency said funds were routed through group companies, conduit entities, multiple bank accounts and liquid mutual funds.
According to the ED, the funds were also used to service earlier External Commercial Borrowings and Foreign Currency Convertible Bonds and were presented as legitimate business expenditure or receipts.
The agency has further alleged that loan proceeds were diverted to group companies, including Reliance Infrastructure and Reliance Capital, and subsequently used to purchase personal assets for promoters outside India. It has also alleged that some funds were used to service liabilities and artificially inflate profits for RCOM.
The ED has quantified the proceeds of crime in this case at INR 40,185 crore and said it has attached assets worth INR 8,078 crore. The agency has sought confiscation of the attached assets through the chargesheet.
A statement from the Anil Ambani Group is awaited, while comments from the former executives named in the cases were not immediately available.
Source PTI
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