Anil Ambani offers to ‘virtually appear’ before ED in FEMA case

Reliance Group chairman Anil Ambani has offered to appear before the Enforcement Directorate through “virtual means” following summons issued to him under the FEMA for Friday.

A statement issued by a spokesperson for the 66-year-old businessman said he had written to the federal probe agency assuring “fully cooperation” in the probe being conducted under the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA).

The agency, according to sources, had asked Ambani to appear in person on Friday and record his statement under the FEMA.

The investigation pertains to the Jaipur-Reengus Highway Project where the ED suspects that funds worth about Rs 100 crore were sent abroad via the hawala route.

The ED has recorded the statements of various persons, including some alleged hawala dealers, following which they decided to summon Ambani, the sources said.

Hawala denotes the illegal movement of funds, largely in cash.

The businessman has been questioned once by the ED in a money laundering case linked to an alleged Rs 17,000 crore bank fraud against his group’s companies.

“The matter (FEMA case) is 15 years old, dates to 2010, and concerns issues associated with a road contractor,” the statement said.

In 2010, Reliance Infrastructure Ltd. awarded an EPC contract for the construction of the JR Toll Road (Jaipur-Ringus Highway), it said.

“This was a purely domestic contract with no foreign exchange component involved whatsoever.”

“The JR Toll Road has been fully completed and, from 2021 onwards has been with the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) for over past four years,” the statement added.

Ambani is not a member of the Board of Reliance Infrastructure.

“He served the company for about fifteen years, from April 2007 to March 2022, only as a non-executive director, and was never involved in day-to-day management of the company,” it said.