New Delhi: Investigative portal Cobrapost Thursday alleged Anil Ambani’s Reliance Group had committed a massive financial fraud exceeding Rs 41,921 crore through diversion of funds from group companies since 2006 – a charge the group denied as a malicious campaign aimed at crashing stock prices.
Cobrapost claimed that about Rs 28,874 crore raised through bank loans, IPO proceeds, and bonds was siphoned from listed Group firms, including Reliance Communications, Reliance Capital, Reliance Home Finance, Reliance Commercial Finance, and Reliance Corporate Advisory Services, to promoter-linked companies.
Citing its investigation, it also alleged that an additional USD 1.535 billion (Rs 13,047 crore) was routed into India “in a fraudulent manner” through offshore entities in Singapore, Mauritius, Cyprus, the British Virgin Islands, the US, and the UK, using a network of subsidiaries and shell firms.
Cobrapost claimed that a Singapore-based company, Emerging Market Investments & Trading Pte (EMITS), received USD 750 million from a “mysterious benefactor”, NexGen Capital, and later transferred the amount to Reliance Innoventures, the Reliance Group’s holding company, before being dissolved – a transaction it says “could amount to money laundering”.
The report cites violations of the Companies Act, FEMA, PMLA, SEBI Act, and Income Tax Act, and says its findings are based on filings and orders from the Ministry of Corporate Affairs, SEBI, NCLT, RBI, and foreign jurisdictions.
It also alleged misuse of corporate funds for personal luxury purchases, including a USD 20 million yacht reportedly bought by Anil Ambani in 2008 through a listed group company.
The investigation claims ADA Group firms used dozens of pass-through entities and SPVs to divert funds, which were later written off, leaving all six key listed companies in financial distress.
Cobrapost said the total diversion – domestic and foreign – exceeded Rs 41,921 crore, routed via “dozens of pass-through entities, subsidiaries, shell companies and offshore vehicles” across jurisdictions such as the British Virgin Islands, Cyprus, Mauritius, Singapore, the US and the UK.
Editor Aniruddha Bahal said the probe drew on official filings and court orders from agencies, including the Ministry of Corporate Affairs, SEBI, NCLT, and RBI. He alleged “total erosion of public wealth” of Rs 3.38 lakh crore, including losses in market capitalisation and bad loans.
In response, the Reliance Group dismissed the report as a recycled, agenda-driven corporate hit job by a “dead platform resurrected” by entities with direct commercial interest to acquire the group’s assets.
It said the allegations were based on “old, publicly available information already examined by the CBI, ED, SEBI and other agencies”. This was “an organised attempt to prejudice a fair trial”.
Condemning the report as “a malicious campaign to tarnish its reputation and mislead stakeholders”, the group described Cobrapost as “a dead platform resurrected as a corporate hit-job. Dormant since 2019, Cobrapost has zero journalistic credibility and a 100 per cent track record of agenda-driven stings”.
The group alleged that the publication was “a deliberate campaign of calumny, disinformation, and character assassination of Reliance Group, Anil Ambani and 55 lakh shareholders aimed at crashing the stock prices, and engineering panic in stock markets to acquire Reliance Group assets”.
The group, however, did not say who the rival corporates were, but identified the assets rivals were vying to acquire after beating down the price – Delhi’s power distribution company BSES Ltd, Mumbai Metro and 1,200 MW Rosa power project.
Its listed firms, Reliance Infrastructure Ltd and Reliance Power Ltd, have also filed complaints with SEBI seeking a probe into recent trading patterns in their shares.
PTI
