ED Issues Lookout Notice Against Anil Ambani In Rs 3,000-Crore Loan Fraud Case: Report

ED issued a lookout circular against Anil Ambani amidst a Rs 3,000 crore loan fraud investigation. Ambani is summoned for questioning regarding alleged financial irregularities and diversion of over Rs 17,000 crore by Reliance Group companies.

Agarwal has been asked to appear before the probe body on Tuesday.

The Enforcement Directorate has issued a lookout circular against Reliance Group Chairman Anil Ambani in connection with the alleged Rs 3,000-crore loan fraud case, reports PTI, quoting sources. The development came when the agency summoned the businessman for questioning. Agarwal has been asked to appear before the probe body on Tuesday.

According to NDTV, a lookout circular is used to prevent individuals from leaving the country to evade prosecution. It is circulated to all entry and exit points, including airports and seaports, and officials are alerted to detain individuals against whom such notices are issued if they try to go out of the country. 

The agency, according to the PTI, will record Agarwal’s statement under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) once he deposes. Some executives of Ambani's group companies have also been summoned over the next few days.

The summons comes after the probe agency conducted searches at 35 premises of 50 companies and 25 people, including executives of his business group, last week. The searches, launched on July 24, went on for three days. 

The action pertains to alleged financial irregularities and collective loan diversion pegged at more than Rs 17,000 crore by multiple group companies of Anil Ambani, including Reliance Infrastructure (R Infra). The agency found, on the basis of a Sebi report, that R Infra diverted funds disguised as inter-corporate deposits (ICDs) to Reliance Group companies through a company named CLE. It is alleged that R Infra did not disclose CLE as its related party to avoid approvals from shareholders and audit panels.

In a statement, a spokesperson of Reliance Group said that the allegation regarding the alleged diversion of Rs 10,000 crore to an undisclosed party was a 10-year-old matter, and the company had stated in its financial statements that its exposure was only around Rs 6,500 crore. Reliance Infrastructure had publicly disclosed this matter on February 9, 2025, nearly six months ago, the statement said.

The probe agency is also looking at the allegations of illegal loan diversion of around Rs 3,000 crore, given by Yes Bank to the group companies of Ambani between 2017 and 2019.

Earlier in the day, the ED conducted searches against an Odisha-based company that allegedly ran a fake bank guarantee issuance racket for business groups, including providing an alleged Rs 68 crore such assurance for a Reliance Group company, PTI reported, quoting official sources. 

The money laundering case is against a Bhubaneswar-located company named Biswal Tradelink and its directors. The ED case, filed under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), stems from a November 2024 FIR of the Delhi Police Economic Offences Wing (EOW). The ED, the sources said, conducted searches at three premises of the company on Friday in Bhubaneswar and one associate entity in Kolkata.