Mr. Anil Ambani, former chairman of Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group. File | Photograph credit score: Reuters
India’s monetary markets regulator has rejected an utility by businessman Anil Ambani and his group of firms to resolve allegations that he misappropriated about $700 million in company funds, based on paperwork reviewed by Reuters.
The Securities and Trade Board of India final week rejected a request over allegations that Ambani and Reliance Infrastructure had been concerned in improper transfers of 65.26 billion rupees ($691 million) to an Ambani-linked entity through which he’s the controlling shareholder, based on paperwork.
Ambani, the youthful brother of billionaire Mukesh Ambani, has confronted intense scrutiny from regulators and enforcement companies over the previous 18 months. A number of executives of the group had been arrested on fraud expenses and a few of Anil Ambani’s property had been frozen. The executives deny any wrongdoing, and the case remains to be in court docket.
Paperwork reviewed by Reuters SEBI has indicated in September that it had alleged that transactions involving Mr. Ambani and Reliance Infrastructure could also be undertaken for the aim of private enrichment fairly than company functions for the advantage of widespread shareholders and constituted “misappropriation of firm funds”.
Ambani Group ‘categorically’ denies allegations
Requested for remark, a spokesperson for the Anil Ambani Group stated in an electronic mail: “The allegations are categorically denied. This matter is a matter of judicial willpower and the Group continues to defend its place in accordance with authorized suggestions.”
SEBI didn’t reply to emailed requests for remark.
The regulatory company’s rejection of the settlement request and its particular allegations haven’t been beforehand reported. Reliance Infrastructure stated in an change submitting in October that SEBI had alleged that it had violated guidelines concerning monetary publicity to associated entities, with out giving particulars.
Whereas rejecting the settlement utility, SEBI cited parallel investigations by different Indian enforcement companies, together with the Monetary Crimes and Frauds Investigation Company of India, and SEBI’s assessment of the paperwork. Reuters confirmed.
That is the second time Ambani has rejected a settlement supply. SEBI final yr rejected his plea to resolve allegations in a case associated to his funding in India’s Sure Financial institution.
SEBI’s settlement course of permits firms to pay fines and settle circumstances with out admitting wrongdoing. If SEBI refuses to settle, it usually points an in depth public coverage order outlining the alleged violations, with penalties starting from fines to restrictions on entry to capital markets. Firms and organizations might enchantment such orders to the courts.
Reliance Infrastructure has sought board approval to boost as much as Rs 3,000 crore from the general public, aiming to faucet a marketplace for what it claims is a big capital elevate.
The corporate had earlier disclosed an publicity of about Rs 65.26 billion to engineering contractor CLE Non-public Ltd, which it described as an unbiased entity.
However SEBI claimed a a lot bigger switch of funds, alleging that Reliance Infrastructure diverted 176.7 billion rupees ($1.9 billion) to CLE after which invested a minimum of 112 billion rupees in firms linked to Ambani’s Reliance ADA Group over a 10-year interval ending in 2024.
The doc stated SEBI decided that fairly than being an unbiased firm, “for all sensible functions CLE functioned as a Reliance ADA group firm” and was “not directly managed” by Mr. Ambani and a small variety of different officers.
An electronic mail in search of remark from CLE was despatched on Friday (June 26, 2026) to the tackle final cited within the Indian Registry of Firms, however there was no speedy response.
