Anil Ambani appears before ED in FEMA case

Reliance ADA Group Chairman Anil Ambani appeared before the Enforcement Directorate in Mumbai. File
| Photo Credit: The Hindu photo library

Industrialist Anil Ambani appeared before the Enforcement Directorate’s (ED) office on Monday morning in connection with an investigation linked to an alleged contravention of the foreign exchange law, an ED official said.

The details of the case are not clear. However, Mr. Ambani appeared to record his statement in a case of a violation of the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA).

Mr. Ambani, 64, the Reliance ADA Group chairman, was seen arriving at the anti-money laundering agency’s Ballard Estate office in south Mumbai.

On April 5 this year, the Bombay High Court had continued an interim stay on the show cause notice and penalty issued to Mr. Ambani by the Income Tax (I-T) Department under the Black Money Act till further orders.

On August 8, 2022, the I-T Department issued a notice to Mr. Ambani over the alleged evasion of ₹420 crore in taxes on undisclosed funds of more than ₹814 crore held in two Swiss bank accounts. According to this, he is liable to be prosecuted under the provisions of the Black Money (Undisclosed Foreign Income and Assets) Imposition of Tax Act, which has a maximum sentence of 10 years with fine, the I-T notice said. The department charged Mr. Ambani with “wilful” evasion, saying he “intentionally” did not disclose his foreign bank account details and financial interests.

I-T officials have assessed Mr. Ambani’s total value of undisclosed funds in two Swiss bank accounts to be ₹8,14,27,95,784 (₹814 crore), and the tax payable on this amount is ₹4,20,29,04,040 (₹420 crore).

In 2020, Mr. Ambani had appeared before the Central agency in a money laundering case related to the Yes Bank loan kickbacks case. The ED had alleged that Mr. Ambani’s company had received loans from Yes Bank during its arrested founder Rana Kapoor’s tenure and is among the bank’s biggest non-performing assets.