ED calls Anil Ambani for quizzing on August 5 in ‘fraud’ case, issues lookout notice | India News

New Delhi: Enforcement Directorate on Friday put travel curbs on Reliance ADAG chief Anil Ambani by issuing a lookout circular after summoning him for questioning at the agency HQ here on Aug 5 in connection with an alleged money laundering racket involving group entities. The summons were based on findings of probes being conducted by multiple agencies.On Friday, ED searched three premises in Bhubaneswar and one in Kolkata after finding alleged evidence of Rs 68-crore fake bank guarantee provided to Solar Energy Corporation of India Limited on behalf of Reliance NU BESS Ltd/Maharashtra Energy Generation Ltd. The guarantee was generated by a shell entity registered in Bhubaneswar, allegedly linked to ADAG.Reacting to the allegations, ADAG said: “The company and its subsidiaries acted bonafidely and have been a victim of fraud, forgery and cheating conspiracy.” Due disclosure made to stock exchanges: Reliance ADAGIn its defence, Reliance ADAG said, “The company has made a due disclosure on this to the stock exchanges on Nov 7, 2024. A criminal complaint has already been lodged with the Economic Offence Wing of Delhi Police against the third party on Oct 16, 2024. The due process of law will follow”.“Multiple undisclosed bank accounts have been detected having suspicious transactions of several crores of rupees ,” ED sources said. “Key individuals of the group have been found using Telegram app with ‘disappearing messages’ enabled, indicating attempts to conceal communication.”ED has registered a separate money laundering investigation based on an FIR registered by economic offences wing of Delhi Police in Nov 2024. Searches took place in Bhubaneswar at three premises of Biswal Tradelink and its directors and one premise of an associated operator.The Bhubaneswar entity, now being allegedly linked to Anil Ambani’s group, is a mere paper entity, which was registered at a residential property belonging to an associate, and had suspicious financial transactions with multiple companies.Sources said evidence of generating fake bank guarantees was seized during July 24 searches on ADAG companies. Officials alleged the bank guarantee of Rs 68.2 crore submitted to Solar Energy Corporation of India has been established as fake.“In an attempt to prove that this fake bank guarantee is genuine, the group used a spoofed email domain. Instead of sbi.co.in, the domain s-bi.co.in was deployed to send forged communication to SECI, impersonating SBI,” a source added. ED has sought domain registration details of s-bi.co.in from National Internet Exchange of India.