A Delhi court on Thursday sent Amitabh Jhunjhunwala and Amit Bapna, two former senior executives of industrialist Anil Ambani-led Reliance Group, to five-day Enforcement Directorate (ED) custody in a money laundering probe.
The PMLA special judge at the Rouse Avenue court approved ED’s demand for custodial interrogation. Although the agency had asked for 7 days’ remand, the court gave 5 days’ custody.
According to sources, Jhunjhunwala and Bapna, who are considered close to Anil Ambani, have been arrested by the ED in the ongoing investigation under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). This investigation has been started on the basis of cases registered by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
The case pertains to alleged financial irregularities in Reliance Group companies Reliance Home Finance Limited (RHFL) and Reliance Commercial Finance Limited (RCFL), in which both the officials are suspected to have played a key role.
Jhunjhunwala has previously been the Group Managing Director of Reliance Group and was also the Vice Chairman and Director of Reliance Capital Limited. According to sources, he played an important role in the functioning of RHFL and RCFL during that time.
At the same time, Bapna has been the Chief Financial Officer of Reliance Capital Limited and Director of RHFL and he is also accused of being involved in financial decisions.
According to sources, the ED arrested the duo after they were found allegedly involved in misuse of bank loan money and money laundering related to it.
Earlier this month, CBI had registered a case against Reliance Communications Limited (RCom), Anil Ambani and others. It is alleged that Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) suffered a loss of Rs 3,750 crore.
According to the CBI, LIC was induced to invest Rs 4,500 crore by giving false information about the company’s financial condition and investment security.
The agency is also probing other bank fraud cases related to Reliance Group, including an alleged scam of about Rs 2,929.05 crore involving SBI.
Anil Ambani has also been questioned earlier in this matter.
Meanwhile, Reliance Group issued a statement saying that Jhunjhunwala and Bapna are no longer associated with the company and are not currently working in any of the group companies.
According to the company, Jhunjhunwala left the group in December 2019 and Bapna in September 2019 and now they have no connection with any of the companies, including Reliance Infrastructure Ltd and Reliance Power Ltd.
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