Reliance Group reiterates entire exposure to Yes Bank is fully secured

Reliance Group Chairman Anil Ambani on Thursday appeared before the Enforcement Directorate (ED) officials to clarify on the Group's exposure to Yes Bank and reiterated that all loans to the company with the bank are "fully secured".

Mumbai, March 19 Reliance Group Chairman Anil Ambani on Thursday appeared before the Enforcement Directorate (ED) officials to clarify on the Group's exposure to Yes Bank and reiterated that all loans to the company with the bank are "fully secured".

In a statement issued after the questioning, the Reliance Group said, "Anil Ambani reiterated that the Reliance Group's entire exposure to Yes Bank is fully secured and transacted in the ordinary course of business."

"All transactions between the Reliance Group and Yes Bank are in compliance with the law and financial regulations," the statement read.

The statement said that Anil Ambani also clarified to the agency that "Reliance Group has no direct or indirect exposure to Rana Kapoor or his wife or daughters, or any entities controlled by the Yes Bank founder or his family".

"Reliance Group is committed to honour repayments of all its borrowings from Yes Bank through its various asset monetisation programmes," it said.

The Reliance Group said, "Anil Ambani has assured that the Reliance Group will continue to extend their full support and cooperation to all authorities."

The statement from the Reliance Group came after its Chairman appeared before the central probe agency officials on Thursday and recorded his statement under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

On Tuesday and Wednesday, Essel Group Chairman Subhash Chandra, crisis-hit DHFL promoters Kapil Wadhawan and Dheeraj Wadhawan and former Jet Airways Chairman Naresh Goyal had skipped the ED summons citing different reasons.

Chandra, who is also a BJP Rajya Sabha MP, in his letter to the ED cited the ongoing Budget Session of the Parliament for skipping the ED probe, while Goyal cited personal reasons for skipping the questioning.

On Tuesday, promoters of the ciris hit DHFL skipped the ED summons for questioning in connection with the case citing Covid-19 threat for their non-appearance.

The ED has summoned the borrowers as part of its probe to investigate the stressed loans sanctioned during the tenure of Rana Kapoor.

was first to report on Monday morning that the ED was all set to summon all the top borrowers of the bank for questioning in connection with its money laundering probe into the Yes Bank case.

The CBI and ED began a probe into the short-term debentures of DHFL in which Yes Bank invested Rs 3,700 crore from April to June 2018.

The probe is part of another investigation pertaining to Yes Bank's purchase of debentures from DHFL against which the company was granted loans totalling Rs 600 crore against a collateral security of around Rs 40 crore only.

The loan amount later turned into non-performing assets (NPAs). It was alleged that DHFL's promoter Kapil Wadhawan simultaneously paid kickbacks totalling Rs 600 crore to the Kapoors in the form of a loan of a similar amount to DoIT Urban Ventures, a venture owned by Rana Kapoor's daughters Rakhee Kapoor Tandon, Roshni Kapoor and Radha Kapoor.

It was also alleged that Yes Bank did not initiate action to recover the loans extended to DHFL. The ED arrested Rana Kapoor on March 8 after several hours of questioning. He has been sent to ED custody till March 20.

One of Rana Kapoor's daughters was stopped from boarding a flight to London by Immigration Department officials at the Mumbai airport.

The CBI on Friday registered a fresh case against Rana Kapoor, his wife Bindu Kapoor and Avantha Realty promoter Gautam Thapar in a fresh case involving the crisis-hit bank. The ED registered a fresh case of money laundering against Kapoor and his wife on Tuesday.

( With inputs from IANS )