ED files fresh money laundering case against Anil Ambani for alleged bank fraud

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) registered a money laundering case against industrialist Anil Ambani and Reliance Communications Ltd (RCom) on Wednesday in connection with an alleged Rs 2,929-crore fraud on State Bank of India (SBI). The case was filed under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) based on a first information report (FIR) filed in August 2025 by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
Earlier, the CBI booked RCom and Anil Ambani, besides unnamed public servants and others for allegedly defrauding the SBI. It also raided and searched Anil Ambani’s Mumbai residence and RCom’s corporate offices, as part of its investigation.
The CBI’s FIR was based on a complaint by Jyoti Kumar, deputy general manager of SBI’s Mumbai branch, who alleged that a forensic audit conducted on October 15, 2020, had revealed irregularities in loan utilisation by Anil Ambani’s companies.
Acting on the CBI case, the ED has widened the scope of its investigation by writing to nearly 20 public and private sector banks to obtain details of loans sanctioned to Anil Ambani-led Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani (ADA) group companies. The agency has also sought credit assessments carried out at the time of sanctioning loans, even as it investigates whether bank funds were diverted or laundered through shell entities and offshore channels. The ED has questioned several senior Reliance ADA group executives. “On Tuesday, Amitabh Jhunjhunwala, an aide of Anil Ambani, appeared before the ED once again. Jhunjhunwala and other officials had previously been summoned in connection with a larger Rs 17,000-crore loan fraud probe involving multiple Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani (ADA) group companies.