India’s crime agency probes Ambani’s Reliance Group

India's financial crime-fighting agency searched 35 locations linked to Reliance Anil Ambani Group as part of an investigation into alleged money laundering and siphoning of public funds, a government source said yesterday.

The Enforcement Directorate alleges the group orchestrated a "well-planned" scheme to siphon off 30 billion rupees ($350 million) in loans from YES Bank to many shell companies between 2017 and 2019, the source said.

Anil Ambani's Reliance group entities are accused of paying bribes to YES Bank officials before loans were disbursed, the source said, adding that loan approvals violated the bank's processes.

The probe also found gross violations in YES Bank's loan approval process, such as lending to companies with weak financials, backdating credit memos, "evergreening" loans - issuing fresh loans to avoid labelling assets as nonperforming - and misrepresenting financials.

Representatives for Reliance group and YES Bank did not respond to requests for comment.