Anil Ambani is seeking legal advice regarding SEBI’s order banning him from entering the securities market for five years for alleged misappropriation of funds.
“Ambani is reviewing SEBI’s final order dated August 22, 2024 in the said matter and will take appropriate next steps as per legal advice,” Ambani’s spokesperson said.
Reported anomalies
According to the SEBI order, a fraudulent scheme was hatched by Ambani and managed by key executives of Reliance Home Finance (RHFL) to siphon off funds from the financial services provider by investing them as “loans” to credit-unworthy pass-through and onward borrowers, all of whom were “entities affiliated with the promoter”.
A forensic audit of RHFL’s lending operations conducted by Bank of Baroda, the lead bank of RHFL’s lending syndicate, revealed trends such as circular transactions and the extension of loan tenure.
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The first report pointed out anomalies in RHFL’s credit assessment process. About Rs 12,574 crore was disbursed to potentially indirectly related entities. The second report pointed out that 100 loan cases amounting to Rs 8,884.46 crore were still open and outstanding in RHFL’s books.
Meanwhile, Ambani’s group companies sought to distance themselves from the SEBI order. In a separate statement, Mumbai-listed Reliance Infrastructure Ltd said it was “neither a party nor a participant in the proceedings before SEBI in which the order was passed. No directions are contained in the order against Reliance Infrastructure Ltd.”
“Ambani has resigned from the board of Reliance Infrastructure Ltd pursuant to the interim order dated February 11, 2022 passed by SEBI in the same proceedings. Therefore, the order dated August 22, 2024 passed by SEBI has no impact whatsoever on the business and affairs of Reliance Infrastructure Ltd,” it said.
Reliance Power, the other listed company of Anil Ambani’s group, also issued a similar statement, saying that Ambani’s retirement is due in 2022 and that the recent SEBI order has no impact on it.
