Cobrapost Alleges Massive Rs 41,921 Crore Financial Fraud by Anil Ambani's Reliance Group: Company Strongly Denies Claims

New Delhi: Investigative portal Cobrapost has alleged that Anil Ambani's Reliance Group orchestrated a massive financial fraud exceeding Rs 41,921 crore through systematic fund diversion from group companies since 2006. The Reliance Group has vehemently denied these accusations, characterizing them as a malicious campaign designed to crash their stock prices.

According to Cobrapost's investigation, approximately Rs 28,874 crore—raised through bank loans, IPO proceeds, and bonds—was allegedly diverted from listed group companies including Reliance Communications, Reliance Capital, Reliance Home Finance, Reliance Commercial Finance, and Reliance Corporate Advisory Services to companies linked to the promoters.

The investigation further claims that an additional USD 1.535 billion (Rs 13,047 crore) was channeled into India "in a fraudulent manner" through a network of offshore entities established in Singapore, Mauritius, Cyprus, the British Virgin Islands, the United States, and the United Kingdom, utilizing numerous subsidiaries and shell companies.

Cobrapost highlighted a particular transaction involving a Singapore-based company, Emerging Market Investments & Trading Pte (EMITS), which allegedly received USD 750 million from a "mysterious benefactor" named NexGen Capital. This amount was subsequently transferred to Reliance Innoventures, the holding company of Reliance Group, before EMITS was dissolved—a transaction that Cobrapost suggests "could amount to money laundering."

The report indicates potential violations of multiple regulatory frameworks, including the Companies Act, Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA), Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), SEBI Act, and Income Tax Act. Cobrapost claims its findings are substantiated by official filings and orders from the Ministry of Corporate Affairs, SEBI, National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT), Reserve Bank of India (RBI), and various foreign jurisdictions.

Cobrapost has also alleged misappropriation of corporate funds for personal luxury acquisitions, including a USD 20 million yacht reportedly purchased by Anil Ambani in 2008 through a listed group company.

The investigation asserts that ADA Group companies utilized dozens of pass-through entities and Special Purpose Vehicles (SPVs) to divert funds, which were subsequently written off, leaving all six key listed companies in financial distress.

Cobrapost Editor Aniruddha Bahal stated that their investigation was based on official filings and court orders from various regulatory agencies. He claimed there was a "total erosion of public wealth" amounting to Rs 3.38 lakh crore, encompassing market capitalization losses and non-performing loans.

In response, the Reliance Group has categorically dismissed the report as a recycled, agenda-driven corporate attack orchestrated by a "dead platform resurrected" by entities with direct commercial interests in acquiring the group's assets.

The group contended that the allegations were founded on "old, publicly available information already examined by the CBI, ED, SEBI and other agencies," and represented "an organised attempt to prejudice a fair trial."

Condemning the report as "a malicious campaign to tarnish its reputation and mislead stakeholders," the Reliance 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 further alleged that the publication constituted "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."

While not specifying which rival corporations were involved, the Reliance Group identified several assets that competitors were allegedly attempting to acquire after depressing share prices, including Delhi's power distribution company BSES Ltd, Mumbai Metro, and the 1,200 MW Rosa power project.

Listed entities of the group, Reliance Infrastructure Ltd and Reliance Power Ltd, have filed complaints with SEBI requesting an investigation into recent trading patterns observed in their shares.