The Enforcement Directorate has summoned Reliance Group Chairman Anil Ambani on March 19 in connection with its money-laundering probe against Yes Bank Ltd.'s former promoter Rana Kapoor and others, officials said today.
They said Ambani was first asked to depose at the Enforcement Directorate office in the Ballard Estate area of Mumbai today as his group companies are among the big entities whose Yes Bank loans have turned into NPAs for the lender.
The officials said Ambani, 60, sought exemption from appearance on some personal grounds. He has now been asked to appear on March 19, they said.
Reliance Group companies are stated to have taken loans of about Rs 12,800 crore from the bank that turned NPAs. On March 11, Reliance Group said its entire debt from Yes Bank was fully secured and was availed in the ordinary course of business.
The ED has accused Kapoor, his family members and others of laundering "proceeds of crime" worth Rs 4,300 crore by receiving alleged kickbacks in lieu of extending big loans that later turned sour. On Monday, Kapoor wearing a surgical mask was taken for a medical checkup by ED officials before producing him before a local court. His custody has been extended till March 20.
On Mar. 6, while addressing a press conference on the Yes Bank crisis, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that Reliance Group, Essel Group, IL&FS Group, DHFL and Vodafone Idea were among the stressed companies Yes Bank had exposure to.
Also Read: Yes Bank Rescue: Echoes Of The 1998 LTCM Bailout
Officials said promoters of all the big companies who had taken large loans from Yes Bank that later turned bad are being summoned for questioning in the case. Ambani's statement will be recorded under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2010, upon deposition, they said.
Also Read: In The End, It Took A Whole Village To Rescue Yes Bank
Forty-four companies belonging to 10 large business groups reportedly accounted for Rs 34,000 crore of Yes Bank's total NPAs. These firms include Subhash Chandra's Essel Group, DHFL Group, Jet Airways, Cox & Kings and Vodafone Idea.
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