New Delhi: The Enforcement Directorate on Saturday filed a chargesheet against Reliance Power Ltd., its subsidiaries and 10 individuals in a money laundering case linked to an alleged fake bank guarantee of ₹68 crore submitted to secure a Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) tender.
The chargesheet, filed under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) in Delhi’s Patiala House court, also names former Reliance Power CFO Ashok Kumar Pal, Reliance NU BESS Ltd., Rosa Power Supply Company Ltd., Odisha-based shell entity Biswal Tradelink Pvt. Ltd., its MD Partha Sarathi Biswal, Biothane Chemicals Pvt. Ltd., trade finance consultant Amar Nath Dutta, and three others.
According to the ED, Reliance NU BESS — formerly Maharashtra Energy Generation Ltd. — submitted a fake bank guarantee of ₹68.2 crore to position itself for a SECI tender. Investigators allege that Reliance officials knowingly used “fraudulent” endorsements sent from a spoofed SBI email ID, and after SECI flagged the fraud, rushed to obtain a genuine IDBI Bank guarantee, which SECI refused as it was past deadline.
The agency said Reliance officials attempted fresh endorsements through an SBI branch in Kolkata and even executed a “dummy” agreement using bogus address documents to obtain a Certificate of Enlistment for Reliance NU BESS. When these efforts failed, officials allegedly sought to shift blame onto Biswal Tradelink, filing a complaint against the shell company and its MD.
ED has arrested Biswal, former CFO Pal, and consultant Dutta, all now in judicial custody. The case stems from a November 2024 FIR by Delhi Police’s Economic Offences Wing alleging Biswal Tradelink issued fake guarantees for commission.
The investigation, ED claims, “established” that Reliance Group acted with “mala fide” intent by submitting forged bank guarantees purportedly from non-existent branches of FirstRand Bank (Manila) and ACE Investment Bank (Malaysia), along with forged SBI endorsements sent via a spoofed domain, s-bi.co.in, mimicking SBI’s genuine site.
The chargesheet states that Reliance Power routed ₹6.33 crore from subsidiary Rosa Power to Biswal Tradelink through bogus transportation invoices to fund the fake guarantee, later paying an additional ₹5.40 crore as “fee” to mask the transaction as legitimate.
Anil Ambani’s group has earlier maintained that he has no role in Reliance Power for over 3.5 years and claims the company is a “victim of fraud, forgery and cheating,” citing disclosures made to stock exchanges on November 7, 2024.
ED has attached assets worth ₹5.15 crore so far in connection with the probe. (Agencies)
