Bank of Baroda has recently classified the loan accounts of Reliance Communications Ltd. (RCom) and its former director Anil Ambani as fraud, according to a recent stock exchange filing. The move relates to borrowings made before the company entered the corporate insolvency resolution process, adding a new twist to the long-running financial troubles of the once-prominent telecom company.
Now, a spokesperson for Anil Ambani strongly contested the decision, stressing that the matter dates back more than twelve years, specifically to 2013, and has already been disclosed in the public domain. The statement underlined that Ambani was only a Non-Executive Director of RCom from 2006 until his resignation in 2019. During that tenure of almost fourteen years, he was never an Executive Director or Key Managerial Personnel and therefore had no involvement in day-to-day operations or business decisions.
The spokesperson highlighted that RCom had a consortium of 14 lenders, and yet after more than a decade, only select banks have chosen to initiate proceedings in a staggered manner, targeting Ambani individually. The clarification further pointed out that the company has been under insolvency proceedings for several years, managed by a Committee of Creditors led by the State Bank of India and supervised by a Resolution Professional. In March 2020, the committee unanimously approved a resolution plan, but the process has since remained tied up in judicial forums including the NCLT and the Supreme Court. Despite this, the lenders have not completed the resolution process.
Ambani has categorically denied all allegations and charges, stating that he will pursue remedies available to him as per legal advice. The statement was issued by Daljeet Singh, Group Vice President of Corporate Communication at Reliance Group, who reiterated that Bank of Baroda’s classification is unjustified and based on matters from the past.
