The Enforcement Directorate has issued a lookout circular on Anil Ambani and summoned the industrialist for questioning on August 5 in a money-laundering case linked to charges of a ₹3,000-crore bank-loan fraud against his group companies, agency sources said on Friday.
Friday’s summons come days after the agency raided 35-odd premises in Mumbai and Delhi linked to Anil Ambani in connection with the case, involving companies of the Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group and Yes Bank. The searches, launched on July 24, continued for three days.
The lookout circular is primarily a pre-emptive move to ensure the industrialist doesn’t leave the country. Sources said all immigration points had been alerted.
“Anil Ambani has been asked to depose at the ED headquarters in Delhi. The agency will record his statement under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act,” an ED official said.
“Some executives of his group companies too have been summoned for questioning over the next few days.”
The investigation, the official said, relates primarily to allegations of an illegal loan diversion of around ₹3,000 crore, given by Yes Bank to Anil Ambani’s group companies between 2017 and 2019. The agency alleges that just before the loan was granted, Yes Bank promoters “received” money in their other businesses.
Sources claimed the agency had found a collective loan “diversion” of more than ₹17,000 crore by multiple Anil Ambani group companies, including Reliance Infrastructure (R Infra).
The ED allegedly found, on the basis of a report by market regulator Sebi, that R Infra had “diverted” funds disguised as inter-corporate deposits to group companies through a company named CLE.
It’s alleged that R Infra desisted from disclosing CLE as its “related party” to avoid having to obtain approvals from shareholders and audit panels.
The ED is also looking at allegations of loans being given to entities with weak financials, of a lack of proper documentation of loans and due diligence, and of borrowers having common addresses and common directors in their companies.
In a statement on Friday, Reliance Infrastructure said: “The company wishes to clarify regarding today’s media reports pertaining to over 10 year old matter as regards alleged diversion of Rs 10,000 crore to an undisclosed related party, when the exposure as per the disclosures in the company’s financial statements is only around Rs 6,500 crore. In this connection attention is invited that Reliance Infrastructure had publicly disclosed this matter on February 9, 2025, nearly six months ago.”
It added: “Through mandatory mediation proceedings conducted by a retired Supreme Court Judge and the mediation award filed before the Hon’ble Bombay High Court, Reliance Infrastructure arrived at a settlement to recover its 100 per cent exposure of Rs 6,500 crore.”
The company said that Anil Ambani had been on the board of Reliance Infrastructure only since March 2022.
The ED registered the money-laundering case on the basis of FIRs registered by the CBI and reports shared by the National Housing Bank, Sebi and the National Financial Reporting Authority. Both the FIRs of the CBI name former Yes Bank chairman Rana Kapoor, sources said.
“A preliminary probe by the ED has revealed a well-planned scheme to divert or siphon off public money by cheating banks, shareholders, investors and other public institutions. Several bank officials including Rana Kapoor are also under the scanner,” the ED official said.
Last month, junior finance minister Pankaj Chaudhary had referred to another “fraud” case against an Anil Ambani group company.
Chaudhary told Parliament that the State Bank of India had classified Reliance Communications and promoter-director Anil Ambani as “fraud” in accordance with RBI guidelines and was in the process of lodging a complaint with the CBI.
