Mumbai: The Directorate of Enforcement (ED), Special Task Force, Headquarters, on Monday provisionally attached over 132 acres of land in Dhirubhai Ambani Knowledge City (DAKC), Navi Mumbai, Maharashtra, worth Rs. 4,462.81 crore under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 (PMLA).

This comes after the earlier attachment of 42 properties worth over Rs. 3,083 crore in the bank fraud cases of Reliance Communications Ltd. (RCOM), Reliance Commercial Finance Ltd., and Reliance Home Finance Ltd.

ED had initiated the investigation based on a CBI FIR under Sections 120-B, 406, and 420 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860, and Section 13(2) read with Section 13(1)(d) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1989, against RCOM, Anil Ambani, and others.

RCOM and its group companies had availed loans from domestic and foreign lenders during the period 2010–2012 onwards, of which a total amount of Rs. 40,185 crore remains outstanding. 5 banks have declared the loan accounts of the Group as fraud.

As per an official statement, the “ED investigation has revealed that loans taken by one entity from one bank were utilized for the repayment of loans taken by other entities from other banks, transferred to related parties, and invested in mutual funds, which was in contravention of the terms and conditions of the loan sanction letters. In particular, RCOM and its group companies diverted over ₹13,600 crore for evergreening of loans; over ₹12,600 crore was diverted to connected parties, and over ₹1,800 crore was invested in FDs/MFs, which were substantially liquidated for rerouting to group entities. Huge misuse of bill discounting for funneling funds to connected parties has also been detected by the ED. Certain loans were siphoned off outside India through foreign outward remittances.”

The total attachment in these cases now stands at over Rs. 7,545 crore. The ED is actively pursuing perpetrators of financial crimes and remains committed to restituting the proceeds of crime to their rightful claimants. Further investigation is in progress. DeshGujarat