The searches began on Thursday, 24 July, over an alleged ₹3,000 crore bank loan fraud linked to money laundering, in addition to multiple other allegations of financial irregularities in certain companies.
On the third day, the raids continued at some locations out of the more than 35 premises that were covered in Mumbai since Thursday, the report said.
These premises are owned by 50 companies and 25 individuals, including several executives from the Anil Ambani Group.
The investigation mainly concerns allegations of approximately ₹3,000 crore in illegal loan diversion, which was granted by Yes Bank to Ambani’s group companies 2017-2019, the report cited ED sources.
Reliance Power and Reliance Infrastructure acknowledged the raids and informed the stock exchanges on Thursday that they had “absolutely no impact” on their business operations, financial performance, shareholders, employees, or other stakeholders.
“The media reports appear to pertain to allegations concerning transactions of Reliance Communications Limited (RCOM) or Reliance Home Finance Limited (RHFL) which are over 10 years old,” the companies said.
The report stated that the ED is also investigating allegations of “gross violations” in Yes Bank loan approvals to these companies, including charges such as back-dated credit approval memorandums and investments proposed without proper due diligence or credit analysis, in breach of the bank’s credit policy.
The entities involved are alleged to have “diverted” the loans to many group companies and “shell” companies, it added.
The agency is also examining cases where loans were provided to entities with weak financials, insufficient documentation, and lack of due diligence, as well as borrowers sharing addresses and directors across different companies etc, people aware of the development told PTI.
The money laundering case originates from at least two CBI FIRs and reports provided by the National Housing Bank, SEBI, NFRA, and Bank of Baroda to the ED, the news agency said.
