The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has taken significant action against industrialist Anil Ambani and his group of companies under the Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group (ADAG) in connection with a wide-ranging money laundering investigation. As part of this probe, the agency has provisionally attached over 42 properties linked to Ambani, which are collectively valued at more than ₹3,083 crore. These seized assets encompass a variety of properties, including office premises, residential units, and land parcels located across several major Indian cities. Among the properties attached are Ambani’s house in Mumbai’s upscale Pali Hill neighborhood, the prominent Reliance Centre in Delhi, and various properties spread across Noida, Ghaziabad, Pune, Thane, Hyderabad, Chennai, Kancheepuram, and East Godavari district in Andhra Pradesh.
The Enforcement Directorate’s move comes after it issued orders on October 31 under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). The properties attached belong to various companies associated with the Reliance Anil Ambani Group. Specifically, 30 of these properties are owned by Reliance Infrastructure Ltd, five belong to Adhar Property Consultancy Pvt Ltd, four to Mohanbir Hi-tech Build Pvt Ltd. Additionally, properties owned by Gamesa Investment Management Private Limited, Vihaan43 Realty Private Limited (formerly known as Kunjbihari Developers Private Limited), and Campion Properties Limited have also been attached as part of the investigation.
The ED alleges that several companies under the Reliance Anil Ambani umbrella have been involved in “fraudulent” diversion of public funds. This includes major group companies such as Reliance Communications Ltd (RCOM), Reliance Home Finance Ltd (RHFL), Reliance Commercial Finance Ltd (RCFL), Reliance Infrastructure Ltd (R-Infra), and Reliance Power Ltd. The agency’s probe has uncovered multiple irregularities and financial misappropriations linked to these entities, leading to the current enforcement action.
Responding to the ED’s announcement, Reliance Infrastructure Ltd issued a statement acknowledging the provisional attachment of certain company assets under the PMLA. However, the company assured stakeholders that this development would not affect its business operations, shareholders, employees, or any other related parties. The company also noted that Anil Ambani has not been on the board of Reliance Infrastructure for over three and a half years, implying a separation between the current management and Ambani’s direct influence.
In addition to the PMLA-related actions, the ED conducted a separate search under the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) against Reliance Infrastructure Ltd. During this investigation, the agency discovered that approximately ₹40 crore was siphoned off from the Jaipur-Reengus highway project. The funds were reportedly routed through shell companies based in Surat before being transferred to Dubai. This money trail, according to the ED, reveals the existence of a much larger international hawala network involving transactions exceeding ₹600 crore.
The ED’s detailed findings highlight a troubling pattern of financial misconduct dating back to around 2010-2012. During this period, RCOM and its group companies reportedly raised thousands of crores from Indian banks. However, a significant portion of these loans, amounting to ₹19,694 crore, remains outstanding. Over time, these loans transitioned into non-performing assets (NPAs), with five banks even declaring RCOM’s loan accounts as fraudulent. The investigation revealed that loans taken by one entity were used to repay loans taken by other entities within the group, transferred to related parties, or invested in mutual funds—actions that violated the terms and conditions set forth in the loan sanction letters.
More specifically, the ED alleges that RCOM and its group companies diverted over ₹13,600 crore to evergreen loans—loans taken to repay earlier loans—over ₹12,600 crore was routed to connected parties, and around ₹1,800 crore was invested in fixed deposits and mutual funds. These investments were later liquidated to reroute funds back to group entities, creating a complex web of financial transactions that obscured the true use of the borrowed money.
The probe further uncovered that certain loans were “siphoned off” abroad through foreign outward remittances, indicating possible violations of foreign exchange regulations. Moreover, the investigation revealed irregularities involving Yes Bank’s investments in Reliance group companies. Between 2017 and 2019, Yes Bank invested ₹2,965 crore in RHFL