The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has filed prosecution complaints under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 (PMLA) against companies associated with the Anil Ambani Group and several former senior executives in connection with two separate money laundering investigations involving alleged proceeds of crime totalling ₹40,185 crore.
The prosecution complaints were filed on August 8 before the designated PMLA courts in Delhi. One complaint concerns alleged diversion and laundering of funds involving Reliance Infrastructure Limited (RInfra), while the other is a supplementary prosecution complaint in the money laundering investigation concerning Reliance Communications Limited (RCom), Reliance Telecom Limited (RTL) and Reliance Infratel Limited.
In the RInfra matter, the ED has arraigned the company, former group executive Sateesh Seth and other persons as accused before the Special PMLA Court at Dwarka. The case originates from an FIR registered by the Mumbai Police Economic Offences Wing in February. According to the ED, its investigation uncovered a network of shell entities and bank accounts allegedly created or operated using forged documentation for routing funds and making outward remittances under the guise of fictitious invoices relating to allegedly over-valued diamond exports.
The agency has alleged that funds were diverted from four road projects awarded by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI)—Trichy-Karur, Trichy-Dindigul, Salem-Ulundurpet and Jaipur-Reengus. The projects were financed through NHAI grants as well as loans obtained from banks and financial institutions.
According to the prosecution, approximately ₹187 crore was allegedly siphoned off between September and October 2010 through purportedly sham, post-facto and back-dated sub-contracting arrangements for works that were allegedly never executed. The ED has alleged that the money was transferred from RInfra, project-specific special purpose vehicles and engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contractors to construction contractors and thereafter layered through shell entities that allegedly had no genuine involvement in road construction activities.
The agency has further alleged that documents were subsequently created to give the transactions an appearance of legitimacy and portray the diverted funds as genuine project expenditure. In relation to the alleged proceeds of crime, the ED has stated that it attached immovable properties and equity shares of Reliance Power held by RInfra, apart from land held in the name of Ksheeraabd Constructions, with the total value of the attached assets estimated at around ₹187 crore.
The ED has stated that investigation into the role of other persons is continuing. Seth, who left the Reliance Group in 2025, was arrested by the agency and remains in judicial custody.
The second prosecution complaint is a supplementary complaint in the PMLA proceedings concerning RCom, RTL and Reliance Infratel. The ED had filed its principal prosecution complaint in the matter in March. The investigation stems from FIRs registered by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) concerning alleged diversion of fund-based and non-fund-based credit facilities availed by the companies.
The ED has alleged that fresh credit facilities obtained by the group companies were diverted towards repayment and rotation of existing domestic and overseas liabilities, thereby allegedly facilitating the evergreening of loans instead of being utilised for the purposes for which the credit facilities had been sanctioned.
The agency has further alleged that funds were routed through multiple group entities, conduit companies, bank accounts and liquid mutual funds before being deployed towards servicing earlier External Commercial Borrowings (ECBs) and Foreign Currency Convertible Bonds (FCCBs). According to the ED, certain transactions were allegedly structured and represented as legitimate business dealings even though the funds were ultimately diverted for purposes unrelated to their sanctioned end-use.
The agency has also alleged that loan proceeds were transferred to other group entities, including Reliance Infrastructure and Reliance Capital, and that a portion of the funds was allegedly utilised for acquisition of personal assets of promoters outside India. It has further alleged that certain transactions were undertaken to artificially bolster the reported profits of RCom.
The ED has quantified the alleged proceeds of crime in the RCom-linked investigation at approximately ₹40,185 crore. The agency has stated that assets worth around ₹8,078 crore have already been provisionally attached and has sought their confiscation under the PMLA.
RCom, RTL and former senior executives of the Anil Ambani Group, including Sateesh Seth, Gautam Doshi and Amitabh Jhunjhunwala, have been named as accused in the supplementary prosecution complaint. Doshi and Seth were arrested by the ED in June and July respectively and remain in judicial custody. Doshi had exited the Reliance Anil Ambani Group in 2020.
With the filing of the latest prosecution complaints, the ED’s allegations have formally entered the adjudicatory process before the designated PMLA courts. The allegations contained in the prosecution complaints remain subject to judicial determination and have not been conclusively established.
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