An offer has been made by Anil Ambani to provide his statement via video conference regarding a money laundering investigation under the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA), according to a spokesperson for the chairman of the Reliance Group.
The 66-year-old tycoon missed a second summons from the Enforcement Directorate (ED) after failing to appear before the agency on November 14. The ED had summoned Anil Ambani in connection with a FEMA investigation related to the Jaipur-Reengus highway project, where Reliance Infrastructure had secured an EPC contract for its construction.
The investigation is focused on allegations of Rs 40 crore being diverted through shell companies in Surat to Dubai from the 2010 project. The ED suspects the possibility of this being part of a larger international hawala network valued at over Rs 600 crore.
The spokesperson clarified that Anil Ambani had served as a non-executive director at Reliance Infrastructure Ltd for approximately 15 years but was not involved in the day-to-day operations of the company. The spokesperson emphasized that the highway construction contract was purely domestic and did not involve any foreign exchange dealings.
Anil Ambani is not a member of the Board of Reliance Infrastructure. He had previously been questioned by the ED in connection with an alleged Rs 17,000-crore bank fraud involving his group companies.