Manali Chotalia
Three major Indian Banks SBI, UBI, and IOB have stated Anil Ambani’s Reliance Communication, Reliance Telecom, and Reliance Infratel’s accounts as fraudulent over suspicious transactions been found in their account entries and also the non-payment of debt has led to initiate a probe into those transactions.
A petition has been filed by RCom and RTelecom in the Delhi High court in furtherance of the banks’ allegations stating them to be wrong.
Total debt of ₹86,188 crores has been arrived at after calculating the total dues, which are as follows:
- Reliance Communication owes ₹49,193 as per its official website.
- Reliance Telecom owes ₹24,306.27crores, and Reliance Infratel owes ₹12,687.65 crores.
The total debt is ten-fold more than what Vijay Mallya and Nirav Modi owe to the banks.
A plea had been filed by Reliance Communication and Reliance Telecom in the Delhi High Court after the bank gave its statement declaring these companies as fraudulent. The plea was filed against the banks’ statement and Justice Subramonium of Delhi High Court had ordered IOB and UBI until the next hearing to maintain a status quo.
“It is being falsely and mischievously stated in a section of social media that RCOM Group of companies owe ₹86,188 crore to Indian banks and financial institutions. As per figures certified by the Resolution Professional appointed by the lenders, the RCom group owed ₹26,000 crore to Indian banks and financial institutions as on the date of filing before the NCLT”
– Reliance group’s spokesperson
They also stated that:
“The alleged ‘fraud’ classification by certain banks is entirely unjustified and unwarranted, and the Delhi High Court by an interim order has directed the same to be kept in abeyance for the time being, and the matter is now sub judice.”
Anil Ambani has claimed his net worth to be ‘zero’ and that his expenses were carried out by his family and has also borrowed a certain sum of money from his mother, wife, and son.
He declared his bankruptcy stating: “The value of my investments have collapsed and does not hold any meaningful assets which can be liquidated for the purposes of the proceeding.”
However, the banks are not ready to accept this story of his and were looking to start a probe into the transactions of these three companies’ accounts.
The next hearing is to take place on January 13 and the court has allowed the centre to investigate further in this case. And the banks are also free to issue show-cause notice.
Due to the launch of Reliance Jio, RCom had to shut down its wireless operations which happened due to the increasing debt and losses in 2017.
70% of the dues are likely to be covered by the lenders and Reliance Infratel marked as fraudulent is undergoing insolvency proceedings.
A loan of ₹565 crores and ₹635 crores had been obtained by Reliance Communication and Infratel from SBI for which ₹1,200 crores personal guarantee was given by Mr. Ambani.
However, both these companies caused defaults in repayment and thus were declared NPA by SBI. Thus, a petition was filed by SBI, in which he had provided a personal guarantee for ADA group of companies from Exim Bank of China, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, and China Development Bank for which consent had been obtained from SBI – observed NCLT’s Mumbai bench.
Due to non-payment of the dues, the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China had sued him in U.K court.
Anil Ambani’s personal insolvency raised a question on his lavish lifestyle and also on the Reliance Innoventures 12 million equity shares – regarding these three companies’ suspicious entries indicating fund diversion of ₹5,500 crores among other transactions between May 2017 and March 2018.
Mukesh Ambani can pick the company’s tower and fibre assets for his Reliance Jio and can take over Reliance Infratel and Reliance Communication and Reliance Telecom Infrastructure can go to UV Asset Reconstruction Company as it gets NCLT’s approval.
Also Read:
https://lawinsider.in/sc-refuses-to-resume-anil-ambani-insolvency-case/