“He has complied with the (February 11, 2022) interim order for the past two and a half years,” the statement said.
On the August 22 order banning Ambani and 24 others from the securities market for five years for allegedly misappropriating funds, the spokesperson said, “Mr Ambani has considered the final order passed by the Securities and Exchange Commission in this matter on August 22, 2024 and will take appropriate action as per legal advice.”
The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) also fined Ambani 250 crore rupees for orchestrating a scheme to “misappropriate” funds from Reliance Home Finance, a listed subsidiary of the Reliance Group, the conglomerate of which he is chairman.
The ban means that Ambani and 24 others will not be able to access the securities market and will be barred from buying, selling or otherwise dealing in securities, directly or indirectly. Mumbai-listed Reliance Infrastructure said in a separate statement that it was “not a notice or party to the proceedings of the Securities and Exchange Commission in which the order was passed. No directions have been given in the order against Reliance Infrastructure.” “Mr Ambani has resigned from the board of directors of Reliance Infrastructure pursuant to the interim order dated February 11, 2022 passed by the Securities and Exchange Commission in the same proceedings. Accordingly, the order dated August 22, 2024 passed by the Securities and Exchange Commission has no relevance whatsoever to the business and affairs of Reliance Infrastructure,” it said. Reliance Power, another listed company in Anil Ambani’s group, issued a similar statement, saying that Ambani had resigned in 2022 and the SEBI order would not affect the company.
In its Aug. 22 order, SEBI said the “fraudulent” scheme “misappropriated” funds from Reliance Home Finance, which structured the funds as loans to less creditworthy borrowers and provided housing and construction loans.
The regulator had said most of these borrowers were linked to “promoters”.
Anil Ambani and his brother Mukesh spun off Reliance Industries Ltd, founded by their father Dhirubhai Ambani, in July 2006. Anil Ambani’s Reliance Group has interests in financial services, infrastructure and telecommunications, while his brother took over the traditional oil refining and petrochemical business.
Over the past few years, Anil Ambani has seen three of his largest companies – Reliance Communications, Reliance Capital and Reliance Infrastructure – go bankrupt due to unpaid debts.
The Securities and Exchange Board of India has charged that over Rs 9,000 crore of loans from Reliance Home Finance were given to “low profile borrowers who could not prove their ability to repay”.
The 24 others banned include executives from Anil Ambani’s Reliance Group and private companies linked to him.
