Anil Ambani failed to appear before ED in money laundering case

NEW DELHI: For the second time, Reliance Group Chairman Anil Ambani failed to appear before the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in a Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) violation case, the agency said on Monday. Ambani had requested the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to record his statement through virtual means after the agency issued a summons for Foreign Exchange Management Act violation for Friday. ED had rejected Ambanis offer and issued him a fresh summons for Monday. The probe pertains to misappropriation of funds linked to Rs 556-crore road project connecting Jaipur and Reengus in Rajasthan. The agency suspects that funds worth about Rs 100 crore were sent abroad via the hawala route. The matter is 15 years old, dates to 2010, and concerns issues associated with a road contractor. The JR Toll Road has been fully completed and, from 2021 onwards, has been with the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) for over past four years. Anil Ambani is not a member of the Board of Reliance Infrastructure. He served the company for about fifteen years, from April 2007 to March 2022, only as a non-executive director, and was never involved in day-to-day management of the company, the company said in a statement. Earlier, the agency had recorded the statements of various persons, including some alleged hawala dealers, after which they decided to summon Ambani.