The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has arrested a senior official of businessman Anil Ambani’s Reliance Group under the Anti-Money Laundering Act. Officials gave this information on Saturday. According to sources, Reliance Power Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Ashok Pal was detained on Friday under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). The ED is investigating companies linked to Anil Ambani-led Reliance Group in several bank fraud cases worth crores of rupees.
Ashok Kumar Pal is the Chief Financial Officer of Reliance Power Limited (RPL).
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RPL is a listed company with more than 75% of its shares held by the public. The ED said he played a key role in the misappropriation of funds from a public listed company. The Board resolution empowered him (and others) to finalize, approve, sign and execute all SECI BESS tender documents, and utilize RPL’s financial capacity for the bid. He was instrumental in submitting fake bank guarantees of more than Rs 68 crore to SECI with the intention of defrauding this PSU. He played a key role in planning, supervising, financing and concealing the fake bank guarantee scheme used in the SECI tender.
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He played a key role in choosing Biswal Tradelink Private Limited to provide fake bank guarantees. BTPL is a small entity operating from a residential address and has no credible bank guarantee record, and without due diligence on the seller, prepared a fake bank guarantee. BTPL Director, Shri Partha Sarathi Biswal is already in judicial custody. He played an important role in misappropriation of funds through fake transport challans worth crores of rupees. He approved releases via Telegram/Whatsapp and helped with paperwork, outside of the normal SAP/vendor master workflow. The seriousness of the fraud can be gauged from the fact that Reliance Power Group had deposited a bank guarantee from FirstRand Bank, Manila, Philippines. While the truth is that FirstRand Bank does not have any branches in the Philippines.