New Delhi [India], December 10 (ANI): The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has seized 13 bank accounts having a balance of Rs 54.82 crore of Anil Ambani's Reliance Infrastructure Ltd under Section 37A of the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA), 1999, for contraventions under Section 4 of the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA), the agency said on Wednesday.

The federal agency's special task force seized these bank accounts.

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ED said its investigation revealed that Reliance Infrastructure Ltd, through its Special Purpose Vehicles (SPVs), siphoned public funds from highway construction projects awarded by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI).

https://x.com/dir_ed/status/1998749714880336035

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According to the federal agency, funds were diverted through sham subcontracting arrangements to shell companies in Mumbai. "These shell entities were set up in a coordinated manner using dummy directors at specific bank branches in Mumbai." ED said these funds were thereafter "layered through a network of other shell entities and remitted outside India to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in the guise of import of polished and unpolished diamonds without receipt of any equivalent goods or documentation."

"The UAE entities to which funds were remitted had bank accounts in both the UAE and in Hong Kong. These entities were found to be controlled by individuals engaged in illegal international hawala. The shell entities through which these funds were siphoned are found to be involved in International Hawala transactions worth more than Rs 600 crore," said the ED. The agency further said the diversion of project funds contributed to severe financial stress in the affected SPVs, resulting in bank loans becoming Non-Performing Assets (NPAs) and causing losses to lenders and jeopardising public financial interests. (ANI)

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