Anil Ambani’s US$410 million Mumbai condo seized in probe

[MUMBAI] Indian investigators seized a US$410 million luxury condominium building owned by Anil Ambani as part of a widening probe into alleged bank fraud by the tycoon.

The Enforcement Directorate, India’s anti-money laundering agency, said on Wednesday (Feb 25) that it had provisionally taken Ambani’s 17-storey property, known as “Abode”, in the upscale Pali Hill neighbourhood. The agency alleged Ambani has defaulted on over 400 billion rupees (S$4.4 billion) worth of loans from Indian and foreign banks.

Ambani, 66, runs Reliance Group and is the younger brother of Mukesh Ambani, Asia’s richest man. The two split the empire after their father’s death in 2002. Anil Ambani has faced financial distress for years, defaulting on bank loans and other debt since at least 2016.

Most recently, his name surfaced in documents related to Jeffrey Epstein, which showed that he had met the disgraced financier on several occasions to discuss business, politics and women.

The federal agency said the home was transferred into a private family trust in a restructuring designed to “shield it” from Ambani’s personal liabilities, mainly claims tied to guarantees he had given to bankers for company loans.

Reliance Group, which is separate from Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries, did not respond to requests for comment.

Ambani “fraudulently mis-utilised” a substantial amount of borrowed funds into various privately held companies and personal investments, according to the agency’s November attachment order.

So far, properties worth over 157 billion rupees have been seized, all linked to Anil Ambani’s Reliance Communications. A separate probe into alleged bank fraud and defaults by other group entities, including shadow banks previously owned by Ambani, is underway, the agency said.

Meanwhile, India’s Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) conducted searches at Ambani’s office and residence in a separate case, the federal law enforcement agency said in a statement on Thursday. The CBI has registered a second case against Ambani following a complaint from Bank of Baroda, alleging conspiracy, cheating and criminal misconduct, according to the statement.

SEE ALSO

India freezes over 75 billion rupees in assets tied to Anil Ambani in bank fraud probe

Indian banks, led by the country’s largest lender, State Bank of India, classified Reliance Communications as a fraud account in July last year.

Ambani appeared before the federal anti-money laundering agency on Thursday for a second round of questioning, according to a Press Trust of India report.

Earlier this month, India’s Supreme Court directed the Enforcement Directorate to set up a special investigations team for a deeper probe into various allegations of fraud involving Ambani’s companies. The next hearing is due on Mar 10.

As Ambani’s troubles mounted over the years, he sought to raise funds by selling assets and subsidiaries, while lenders and creditors eventually pushed the telecom arm and his shadow banking businesses into insolvency proceedings. BLOOMBERG