India’s infamous fallen billionaire, Anil Ambani, may have claimed that his ‘net worth is zero’ but Indian banks aren’t buying it.
In the midst of Reliance Communications’ bankruptcy resolution process, three Indian banks — the State Bank of India (SBI), Union Bank of India (UBI) and the Indian Overseas Bank (IOB) — are classifying the company’s accounts and the accounts of its units as fraudulent.
However, the court has said that the Centre through its investigating agencies, will be free to “take any steps/investigate/file any complaint proceedings against the two companies independent of the order” which declares the account as fraud accounts.
The petition, which was being heard by the Vacation Bench of Justice Subramonium Prasad, has been filed through the former Executive Director of RComm, Punit Garg.
Another company, UV Asset Reconstruction Co Ltd, is awaiting approval by the National Company Law Tribunal for it to acquire assets of Reliance Communications and Reliance Telecom, which houses spectrum and fiber. Market analysts fear the recent action by the three banks and any subsequent investigation may delay the process.
Anil Ambani is also being sued in a UK court by the Industrial & Commercial bank of China over a personal guarantee he reportedly gave for a $925-million loan for Reliance Communications in 2012. While he had claimed that he had never knowingly given any personal guarantee, the London judge in charge of the case had described his evidence as “inexplicably incomplete, implausible and highly unlikely.”
