The Enforcement Directorate on Tuesday conducted raids on premises linked to global mining conglomerate Vedanta Group after initiating a foreign exchange “violation” probe against the business house promoted by billionaire Anil Agarwal, sources in the agency said.
Vedanta Ltd is a leading global producer of metals, critical minerals and technology. The company, which has operations across India, Africa, West Asia and East Asia, was among the top donors to political parties between 2019 and 2024 through the opaque electoral bonds scheme, which the Supreme Court deemed unconstitutional.
On the ED action, a spokesperson for Vedanta said: “We are extending full cooperation to the authorities and are providing all information sought. The company remains committed to compliance with all applicable laws and regulations. As the matter is currently under regulatory process, we are unable to comment further at this stage."
Sources in the ED said the raids were conducted at Vedanta offices in Delhi and Rajasthan, besides some other locations. The agency is yet to disclose the details of the Foreign Exchange Management Act (Fema) case against the Vedanta Group.
The raids are said to be linked to a probe into the royalty payment made by Vedanta to its parent company, Vedanta Resources.
Just before the Lok Sabha polls in 2024, the apex court had scrapped the Narendra Modi government’s electoral bonds scheme of anonymous political funding, terming it “unconstitutional” and ordering disclosure of the names of the purchasers, value of the bonds and their recipients.
