ED attaches Anil Ambani’s Rs 3,716-crore Mumbai residence in Pali Hill

The Enforcement Directorate has provisionally attached industrialist Anil Ambani’s residence, ‘Abode’, in Mumbai’s posh Pali Hill area valued at Rs 3,716.83 crore under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), the agency said on Wednesday. Earlier, it had provisionally attached Ambani’s properties worth Rs 473.17 crore. The ED action comes as part of the ongoing investigation based on an FIR filed by the CBI under IPC sections 120-B, 406 and 420 and under relevant provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1989, against Reliance Communications Ltd (RCOM), Ambani, and others. “RCOM and its group companies availed loans from domestic and foreign lenders of which a total amount of Rs 40,185 crore is outstanding. ED investigation has revealed that among other assets, the Pali Hill property was aggregated into the RiseE Trust – a Private Family Trust of the members of Anil Ambani’s family. This was done to make it appear as though Anil Ambani is not involved,” an ED spokesperson said in a statement. The agency claims the move was designed to preserve family wealth and protect it from recovery actions by banks, whose loans to RCOM and its related companies had turned into non-performing assets (NPAs). “The intended effect of this corporate restructuring was to ensure wealth preservation and resource generation by aggregation of the property in the RiseE trust and shield it from personal liabilities of Anil Ambani in the form of Personal Guarantees extended by him to lender banks against the loans sanctioned to RCOM. The property was intended to be beneficially used and owned by the Anil Ambani family and not for the distressed public banks whose loans turned NPA,” the spokesperson alleged. A spokesperson of Anil Ambani did not respond to a query from The Indian Express. Anil Ambani or RCOM Ltd is yet to issue any official response on the latest development. Mahender Singh Manral is an Assistant Editor with the national bureau of The Indian Express. He is known for his impactful and breaking stories. He covers the Ministry of Home Affairs, Investigative Agencies, National Investigative Agency, Central Bureau of Investigation, Law Enforcement Agencies, Paramilitary Forces, and internal security. Prior to this, Manral had extensively reported on city-based crime stories along with that he also covered the anti-corruption branch of the Delhi government for a decade. He is known for his knack for News and a detailed understanding of stories. He also worked with Mail Today as a senior correspondent for eleven months. He has also worked with The Pioneer for two years where he was exclusively covering crime beat. During his initial days of the career he also worked with The Statesman newspaper in the national capital, where he was entrusted with beats like crime, education, and the Delhi Jal Board. A graduate in Mass Communication, Manral is always in search of stories that impact lives. ... Read More