The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has issued fresh summons to Reliance Group chairman Anil Ambani, directing him to appear before the agency on November 17 in connection with a FEMA case, after he failed to appear on Friday, reported the PTI.
In a statement, a spokesperson for the 66-year-old industrialist said he had written to the federal agency assuring his full cooperation with the investigation.
Sources said the ED had earlier asked Ambani to appear in person on Friday to have his statement recorded under the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA). The case relates to the Jaipur-Reengus highway project, according to the PTI.
The ED recently attached assets worth Rs 7,500 crore belonging to Ambani and his companies under the anti-money laundering law. Following a search of Reliance Infrastructure Ltd, the agency claimed that Rs 40 crore had allegedly been siphoned from the highway project.
“Funds were moved through Surat-based shell companies to Dubai. The trail has unearthed a wider international hawala network exceeding Rs 600 crore,” the ED had stated earlier, the news agency reported.
The agency has recorded statements from several individuals, including suspected hawala operatives, before deciding to summon Ambani again, sources added.
Hawala refers to the illegal transfer of funds, largely in cash.
According to ED sources, the agency rejected Anil Ambani’s request to depose via virtual mode, reported the PTI.
Anil Ambani’s spokesperson said the FEMA matter is 15 years old, dating back to 2010, and concerns issues related to a road contractor. Reliance Infrastructure had awarded an EPC contract that year to build the JR Toll Road (Jaipur-Reengus highway).
The statement stressed that it was a purely domestic project, with no foreign exchange component involved. The road has been completed and has been under the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) since 2021, according to the PTI.
The company also clarified that Ambani is not a board member of Reliance Infrastructure. He served as a non-executive director from April 2007 to March 2022 and “was never involved in the day-to-day management” of the firm.
Anil Ambani has previously been questioned by the ED in a money-laundering case linked to an alleged Rs 17,000 crore bank fraud involving his group companies.
(with PTI inputs)
