• Source:JND
Add as a preferred
Reliance Group’s Chairman Anil Ambani’s aide and senior officer at the Reliance Power Limited, Ashok Kumar Pal, has been arrested in connection with money laudering linked to alleged bank loan frauds worth Rs 17,000 crore. Pal was taken into custody by the Enforcement Directorate on Saturday under provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).  
 
According to Pal’s profile details shared on the company’s website, he is a chartered accountant and has been working with Reliance Power as Chief Financial Officer for the past seven years.  

Rs 17,000 Cr Diverted Illegally

The money laundering case has its roots in the alleged financial irregularities and collective loan ‘diversion’ of around Rs 17,000 crore by several group companies, including Reliance Infrastructure (R Infra).
 
 
The initial case around financial irregularities is the illegal loan ‘diversion’ of Rs 3,000 crore provided by YES Bank to Anil Ambani’s group companies from 2017 to 2019.
The second allegation includes a similar fraud of over Rs 14,000 crore, allegedly committed by Reliance Communications.

Loan Amount Transferred Before Approval 

It was also found during the investigation that loans were diverted to and used by companies with poor or unverified financial sources. These companies used common directors and addresses. The irregularities included a lack of essential documentation, the routing of funds to shell entities, and instances of 'loan evergreening'.
 
One of the concerning factors in the case is that some of the loan amounts were transferred on the same day as the application date, while some others were transferred even before the loan was sanctioned, NDTV reported, quoting sources.
 
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) conducted raids in July as part of a money laundering investigation into alleged bank loan fraud and financial irregularities involving several companies.
 
 
Partha Sarathi Biswal, Managing Director of Biswal Tradelink Pvt Ltd, was arrested in August for submitting fake bank guarantees worth Rs 68.2 crore on behalf of Reliance Power. This marked the first arrest in the case, which involves accusations of financial irregularities and money laundering.