Chargesheet filed against Anil Ambani firm over Rs 68.2-cr fake bank guarantee

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has filed a supplementary prosecution complaint in a money-laundering case relating to alleged fake bank guarantees submitted by Reliance Power Ltd and several of its subsidiaries to the Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) to secure a tender, the agency said on Saturday.

The accused named in the complaint include Partha Sarathi Biswal; M/s Biswal Tradelink Pvt Ltd; M/s Biothane Chemicals Pvt Ltd; Amar Nath Dutta; Ravinder Pal Singh Chadha; M/s Reliance NU BESS Ltd; M/s Rosa Power Supply Company Ltd; Manoj Bhaiyasaheb Pongde; M/s Reliance Power Ltd; Ashok Kumar Pal; and Punit Narendra Garg.

The ED said it had earlier attached proceeds of crime worth about Rs 5.15 crore. The probe began after FIRs were lodged by the Economic Offences Wing, Delhi, following a complaint by SECI and a separate FIR by Reliance NU BESS against Biswal Tradelink and its managing director, Partha Sarathi Biswal.

Reliance NU BESS, a 100 per cent subsidiary of Reliance Power, had bid for a SECI tender to set up 1,000 MW/2,000 MWh standalone battery-energy-storage-system (BESS) projects under tariff-based competitive bidding. The tender required a bank guarantee of Rs 68.2 crore; guarantees from foreign banks had to be endorsed by an Indian branch or by the State Bank of India (SBI).

According to the ED, its PMLA probe found that Reliance Power engaged a shell company, Biswal Tradelink, to arrange a fake bank guarantee purporting to be from FirstRand Bank, Manila — a non-existent branch — and from ACE Investment Bank Ltd, Malaysia.

The agency says endorsements were forged using a spoofed SBI email ID and counterfeit endorsement letters. It further alleges that Rs 6.33 crore was routed from Reliance’s subsidiary Rosa Power Supply to Biswal Tradelink as payment for bogus transportation services.

The ED concluded that the Reliance Group acted with “connivance and mala fide intention” to secure the SECI tender by submitting forged guarantees and endorsements. The agency said the chief financial officer of Reliance Power, Ashok Kumar Pal, and other facilitators were arrested and are in judicial custody.