New Delhi, 6 Dec

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Saturday said it has filed a chargesheet against Anil Ambani’s Reliance Power Ltd and 10 others in connection with a money laundering case linked to the issuance of an alleged fake bank guarantee worth Rs 68 crore for securing a tender.

Those named in the prosecution complaint include former Reliance Power CFO Ashok Kumar Pal, Reliance NU BESS Ltd and Rosa Power Supply Company Ltd, Reliance Group executive Punit Narendra Garg, Odisha-based shell firm Biswal Tradelink Pvt Ltd, its MD Partha Sarathi Biswal, and consultant Amar Nath Dutta.

Biothane Chemicals Pvt Ltd, Ravinder Pal Singh Chadha and Manoj Bhaiyasaheb Pongde have also been listed as accused.

The chargesheet was filed under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) before a Delhi court on Friday.

According to the agency, the case relates to a bank guarantee of Rs 68.2 crore submitted to secure a Solar Energy Corporation of India Ltd (SECI) tender on behalf of Reliance NU BESS Ltd, a subsidiary of the listed company Reliance Power.

The probe found that Reliance Group officials were aware that the bank guarantee was fake. Fraudulent endorsements were allegedly sent to SECI using a spoofed State Bank of India email ID. Once the fraud was detected, a genuine guarantee was arranged from IDBI Bank within a day, but SECI rejected it as it was submitted after the deadline.

The ED claimed that Reliance officials then attempted to obtain a fresh endorsement of the fake foreign guarantee from an SBI branch in Kolkata. When this too failed, they allegedly sought to pin the blame on Biswal Tradelink and its MD.

Biswal, former CFO Ashok Kumar Pal, and consultant Dutta were arrested earlier and remain in judicial custody.

The case stems from a November 2024 FIR by Delhi Police’s Economic Offences Wing. The FIR alleged that Biswal Tradelink was issuing fake bank guarantees for commissions.

The ED said it has attached assets worth Rs 5.15 crore in the case.

The agency alleged that Reliance Power hired Biswal Tradelink to procure a fake bank guarantee from FirstRand Bank’s “non-existent” Manila branch and from ACE Investment Bank Ltd, Malaysia. Endorsements were allegedly carried out using a fraudulent domain, s-bi.co.in, designed to mimic SBI’s official domain.

It further alleged that Reliance Power routed Rs 6.33 crore from Rosa Power Supply Company Ltd to Biswal Tradelink under the guise of bogus transportation services to fund the fake guarantee. Fake work orders and invoices were allegedly created to support the transaction.

Reliance Power also reportedly paid Rs 5.40 crore to Biswal Tradelink to make the arrangement appear legitimate.

A response from the Reliance Group is awaited. The company has previously said Ambani has not served on the Reliance Power board for over three-and-a-half years and is “not concerned with the matter”. It has described itself as a victim of fraud and said it made disclosures to the stock exchange in November 2024.

The ED said its investigation has established “connivance” and “mala fide intent” by Reliance officials in securing the SECI tender using fake guarantees and forged endorsements.