The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has registered a case against Jai Anmol Anil Ambani, son of industrialist Anil Ambani, and Reliance Home Finance Ltd. (RHFL) for allegedly cheating Union Bank of India and causing a loss of Rs. 228 crore to the public sector lender, officials said on Tuesday.
The case has been filed on the basis of a complaint lodged by Union Bank of India, formerly Andhra Bank, which accused RHFL and its directors of financial irregularities linked to credit facilities availed by the company.
Besides Jai Anmol Ambani, Ravindra Sharad Sudhakar, another director of RHFL, has also been named in the FIR.
According to the complaint, RHFL had availed credit limits amounting to Rs. 450 crore from the bank’s Supply Chain Finance (SCF) branch in Mumbai for business purposes.
The loan was sanctioned subject to strict conditions, including timely repayment of instalments and interest, submission of security-related documents and routing of all sale proceeds through the designated bank account.
The bank alleged that RHFL failed to adhere to these conditions and defaulted on repayments, leading to the account being classified as a non-performing asset (NPA) on September 30, 2019.
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A forensic audit of the company’s accounts was subsequently conducted by Grant Thornton for the period between April 1, 2016 and June 30, 2019. T
he audit reportedly found that the borrowed funds were misapportioned and diverted, indicating misuse of the loan proceeds.
In its complaint, the bank alleged that the accused, in their capacity as promoters and directors of the borrower company, fraudulently misappropriated funds through manipulation of accounts, committed criminal breach of trust and siphoned off money for purposes other than those for which the loans were sanctioned.
Further investigation in the case is underway.
