A provisional attachment order under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) covers multiple buildings at Dhirubhai Ambani Knowledge City (DAKC) and Millennium Business Park in Navi Mumbai, along with properties in Pune, Chennai, and Bhubaneswar, according to an ED statement. The attached assets belong to Reliance Communications Ltd (RCOM) and associated entities.

This move adds to previous attachments amounting to Rs 7,500 crore linked to alleged bank loan fraud and financial irregularities. With the fresh order, total assets seized in money laundering cases against the Reliance Group stand at Rs 8,997 crore.

The ED alleges that RCOM and its group firms availed loans totalling over Rs 40,185 crore from domestic and foreign lenders between 2010 and 2012, which remain outstanding. Nine banks have declared these loans fraudulent.

The probe found that loans taken by one company were used to repay others, transferred to related parties, or invested in mutual funds, violating loan sanction conditions. Over Rs 13,600 crore was "diverted" to inflate loans, Rs 12,600 crore rerouted to connected parties, and Rs 1,800 crore invested in fixed deposits and mutual funds, much of which was liquidated to channel funds within group entities.

Additionally, the ED detected misuse of bill discounting to funnel funds to related parties and siphoning off of loans outside India through foreign remittances.

Anil Ambani was questioned by the ED in August as part of this investigation, and the agency has summoned him again in a related foreign exchange violation case. The Reliance Group did not respond to PTI's requests for comment.

With inputs from PTI