New Delhi, November 17 (IANS). Reliance ADAG Group Chairman Anil Ambani did not appear before the Enforcement Directorate (ED) for questioning even after the second summons on Monday in the FEMA investigation related to the Jaipur-Ringas Highway Project. However, he has proposed a virtual appearance.
Earlier on Friday, Anil Ambani was to appear personally at the ED headquarters in Delhi, but he did not turn up for questioning and permission for virtual appearance was sought, on which the investigating agent refused and issued a second summons for appearance on Monday.
According to ED sources, the agency wants to record his statement under FEMA. This investigation was started after allegations that Reliance Infra had sent about Rs 40 crore of the highway project awarded in 2010 to Dubai through Surat-based shell companies.
Investigators also believe that this money transaction is linked to a large international hawala network, the estimated size of which is more than Rs 600 crore.
Anil Ambani had sent a request through email for virtual appearance before the ED on Friday in response to the summons issued earlier. However, the financial probe agency rejected this request and decided to issue another summons to him to appear in person on November 17.
“Anil Ambani has offered to make himself available for recording his statement through virtual presence/recorded video at any date and time convenient to the ED,” a Reliance Group spokesperson said in a recent statement.
The spokesperson further said, “Anil D. Ambani is not a member of the board of Reliance Infrastructure. He served only as a non-executive director in the company for approximately fifteen years, from April 2007 to March 2022, and was never involved in the day-to-day management of the company.”
The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has been operating this road for more than four years. The spokesperson further said that this was purely a domestic contract, with no foreign exchange contracts.
Earlier, in August, he was rigorously interrogated for about nine hours at the ED headquarters in the alleged Rs 17,000 crore loan fraud case.
The development comes at a time when the ED on Monday temporarily attached over 132 acres of land worth Rs 4,462.81 crore in Dhirubhai Ambani Knowledge City in Navi Mumbai under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act.
The ED had earlier attached 42 properties worth more than Rs 3,083 crore in the bank fraud cases of Reliance Communications Ltd (RCom), Reliance Commercial Finance Ltd and Reliance Home Finance Ltd.
-IANS
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