New Delhi: A look out circular (LOC) has been issued against Reliance Group chairman and managing director Anil Ambani, close on the heels of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) summoning the businessman for questioning on August 5 in connection with an alleged Rs 17,000 crore loan fraud case.
The ED sent a request to the authority concerned to issue an LOC against Ambani, soon after summoning him at its headquarters in the capital, said people familiar with the matter. “The request for opening an LOC was sent minutes after summons was issued to Anil Ambani on Thursday. This was done to ensure that he does not leave the country,” a senior official told ET on condition of anonymity.
An LOC is issued to prevent people, such as those involved in legal proceedings, from leaving the country and evading the law. It is issued by the Bureau of Immigration, which falls under the Ministry of Home Affairs.
ET was the first to report on Friday that the ED had summoned Ambani for questioning in connection with its investigation into the alleged loan fraud case. In a related development, ED Friday carried out searches against Biswal Tradelink Pvt Ltd.
Biswal Tradelink is an Odisha-based company that allegedly ran a “fake” bank guarantee issuance racket for business groups, including providing an alleged Rs 68 crore assurance for a Reliance Group company, said people in the know. They said Reliance Nu Bess Ltd allegedly submitted a fake bank guarantee of Rs 68.2 crore to Solar Energy Corp of India (SECI).
“They apparently used related party Biswal Tradelink for this arrangement. The purpose was a tender for setting up a 1,000 MW/2,000 MWh standalone battery energy system in India issued by the SECI,” said one of the persons, who did not wish to be identified.
According to people in the know, ED is likely to apprehend one of the directors of Biswal Tradelink soon, making its first arrest in the case. The ED has alleged that the founder directors of Biswal Tradelink were previously directors of the Reliance Group. It has further alleged that a forged bank guarantee along with a forged endorsement letter of State Bank of India (SBI) was submitted to SECI.
“The ED is in possession of the alleged forged email. Instead of ‘sbi’, the email address had ‘s-bi’. The SBI email ID given was sbi.17313@s-bi.co.in,” the person said. According to the ED, a first information report (FIR) had been registered by the Delhi Police at the behest of Reliance Nu Bess against Biswal Tradelink.
In its complaint, according to the ED, Reliance Nu Bess alleged that SECI floated a tender for which bank guarantee was required. If the bank guarantee were to be furnished by any foreign branch of a bank, it had to be confirmed by the Indian branch or SBI through a secure messaging platform, akin to SWIFT.
As per the ED, Reliance Nu Bess further alleged in its complaint, “M/s Biswal Tradelink contacted Reliance NUBESS limited and offered to provide bank guarantee for a fee. Subsequently, SECI found that the bank guarantee was fabricated as also the confirmation from SBI.” The ED has alleged that Reliance Nu Bess wrongly claimed that it was cheated.
“Documentary evidence reveals that apparently the two parties (Reliance Nu Bess and Biswal Tradelink) acted in collusion. The directors of Biswal Tradelink were found to be previous directors of Reliance group,” a senior official told ET.
A statement issued by Reliance Group on Friday said, “The company and its subsidiaries acted bonafidely and have been a victim of fraud, forgery and cheating conspiracy. The company has made due disclosure on this to the stock exchanges on November 7, 2024.” It further said that “a criminal complaint in this regard has already been lodged with the Economic Offences Wing of Delhi Police against the third party on October 16, 2024” and that the “due process of law will follow”.
The alleged money laundering case being investigated by the ED stems from a November 2024 FIR of the Delhi Police Economic Offences Wing.
The ED sent a request to the authority concerned to issue an LOC against Ambani, soon after summoning him at its headquarters in the capital, said people familiar with the matter. “The request for opening an LOC was sent minutes after summons was issued to Anil Ambani on Thursday. This was done to ensure that he does not leave the country,” a senior official told ET on condition of anonymity.
An LOC is issued to prevent people, such as those involved in legal proceedings, from leaving the country and evading the law. It is issued by the Bureau of Immigration, which falls under the Ministry of Home Affairs.
ET was the first to report on Friday that the ED had summoned Ambani for questioning in connection with its investigation into the alleged loan fraud case. In a related development, ED Friday carried out searches against Biswal Tradelink Pvt Ltd.
Biswal Tradelink is an Odisha-based company that allegedly ran a “fake” bank guarantee issuance racket for business groups, including providing an alleged Rs 68 crore assurance for a Reliance Group company, said people in the know. They said Reliance Nu Bess Ltd allegedly submitted a fake bank guarantee of Rs 68.2 crore to Solar Energy Corp of India (SECI).
“They apparently used related party Biswal Tradelink for this arrangement. The purpose was a tender for setting up a 1,000 MW/2,000 MWh standalone battery energy system in India issued by the SECI,” said one of the persons, who did not wish to be identified.
According to people in the know, ED is likely to apprehend one of the directors of Biswal Tradelink soon, making its first arrest in the case. The ED has alleged that the founder directors of Biswal Tradelink were previously directors of the Reliance Group. It has further alleged that a forged bank guarantee along with a forged endorsement letter of State Bank of India (SBI) was submitted to SECI.
“The ED is in possession of the alleged forged email. Instead of ‘sbi’, the email address had ‘s-bi’. The SBI email ID given was sbi.17313@s-bi.co.in,” the person said. According to the ED, a first information report (FIR) had been registered by the Delhi Police at the behest of Reliance Nu Bess against Biswal Tradelink.
In its complaint, according to the ED, Reliance Nu Bess alleged that SECI floated a tender for which bank guarantee was required. If the bank guarantee were to be furnished by any foreign branch of a bank, it had to be confirmed by the Indian branch or SBI through a secure messaging platform, akin to SWIFT.
As per the ED, Reliance Nu Bess further alleged in its complaint, “M/s Biswal Tradelink contacted Reliance NUBESS limited and offered to provide bank guarantee for a fee. Subsequently, SECI found that the bank guarantee was fabricated as also the confirmation from SBI.” The ED has alleged that Reliance Nu Bess wrongly claimed that it was cheated.
“Documentary evidence reveals that apparently the two parties (Reliance Nu Bess and Biswal Tradelink) acted in collusion. The directors of Biswal Tradelink were found to be previous directors of Reliance group,” a senior official told ET.
A statement issued by Reliance Group on Friday said, “The company and its subsidiaries acted bonafidely and have been a victim of fraud, forgery and cheating conspiracy. The company has made due disclosure on this to the stock exchanges on November 7, 2024.” It further said that “a criminal complaint in this regard has already been lodged with the Economic Offences Wing of Delhi Police against the third party on October 16, 2024” and that the “due process of law will follow”.
The alleged money laundering case being investigated by the ED stems from a November 2024 FIR of the Delhi Police Economic Offences Wing.
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