Kamal Ghorui
NEW DELHI: Deepening its investigation into the alleged multi-crore fraud involving Reliance Communications (RCOM) and State Bank of India (SBI), CBI has questioned three former top-tier executives of the Anil Ambani-led Reliance Group.The agency issued summons to Satish Seth and Gautam Doshi, both former group managing directors, for examination in connection with the FIR registered following a formal complaint by SBI. This followed the questioning of a third former group managing director, Amitabh Jhunjhunwala.Seth, who previously held the position of vice-chairman at Reliance Infrastructure Ltd and served on the board of Reliance Telecom Ltd (RTL), was questioned alongside Doshi, who was also a board member of RTL. Sources said that the CBI examined Jhunjhunwala over a three-day period leading up to the scheduled appearance of Anil Ambani on March 19 and 20.Jhunjhunwala, a longtime confidant of the group, formerly served as the vice-chairman of Reliance Capital. The three executives were central figures in the Anil Ambani-led Reliance Group for over 15 years. Both Seth and Jhunjhunwala were veterans of the undivided Reliance Group, having been associated with Reliance Industries Limited for more than two decades prior to the highprofile corporate demerger.All three have since moved on to independent ventures. Jhunjhunwala is currently an independent fund manager with operations in Dubai and Singapore. Seth is now engaged in real estate and software ventures. Doshi, officials said, currently leads a prominent tax and mergers and acquisitions advisory firm, in addition to serving on the boards of major companies.When contacted, the Reliance group refused to comment saying these officials were not with the company anymore. The Supreme Court had earlier asked CBI to file separate FIRs into complaints of different banks against Anil Ambani group companies.Last year, CBI filed a case against M/s Reliance Communications based on a complaint lodged by the SBI, which is the lead bank of a consortium consisting of 11 banks, in an alleged fraud case of Rs 2,929 crore.According to the CBI, the complaint is based on a forensic audit report that alleges large-scale diversion and misuse of loan funds through interlinked and circuitous transactions among group entities during the period 2013-17, resulting in wrongful loss of Rs 2,929 crore to SBI out of total exposure of Rs 19,694 crore involving 17 public sector banks.
