Kamal Ghorui
Enforcement Directorate late Wednesday arrested Amitabh Jhunjhunwala in Mumbai in an ongoing money laundering investigation against entities of the Anil Ambani group, including Reliance Home Finance and Reliance Commercial Finance. ED produced Jhunjhunwala before a special court and sought his remand. Jhunjhunwala had served as the vice-chairman of Reliance Capital Ltd that held these entities.ED also arrested Amit Bapna, PTI reported. Bapna had served as CFO and COO of Reliance Capital between 2008 and 2020.A spokesperson for Anil Ambani said Jhunjhunwala, now a fund manager with operations in Dubai and Singapore, is no longer associated with Reliance ADAG.Jhunjhunwala was part of the unified Reliance group and had been associated with Reliance Industries Ltd for more than two decades prior to the group’s demerger.CBI had questioned Jhunjhunwala in March for over three days, just before Anil Ambani’s sessions with the agency scheduled for March 19 and 20.Anil Ambani himself has been questioned at least twice by Enforcement Directorate, which recorded his statements in connection with multiple money laundering investigations initiated by the agency for the alleged siphoning of public funds through shell entities. His last interrogation was at ED headquarters on Feb 26, a day after the agency claimed to have attached his Mumbai residence worth over Rs 3,600 crore.ED has attached more than Rs 15,000 crore of assets of Ambani and his associated entities, so far, in multiple money laundering cases.Ambani and his associates are being investigated for a banking fraud of more than Rs 40,000 crore involving Reliance Communication (R-Comm) and other entities.ED had earlier arrested another of Ambani’s close aides, Punit Garg, following the discovery of purchase of an apartment in Manhattan, New York worth over Rs 70 crore, allegedly using proceeds of crime laundered from bank loans one of his group entities had received in India.Ambani’s wife Tina is also being investigated in connection with the Manhattan apartment and its subsequent sale and alleged transfer of “proceeds of crime” to a Dubai-based shell company.
