NEW DELHI: The ED late on Friday arrested Reliance Power’s chief financial officer Ashok Pal after questioning him at its headquarters here in a case of fake bank guarantee. He was produced before a court here on Saturday and remanded in two days of ED custody. Pal, the CFO of Reliance Power Limited (RPL), an Anil Ambani Reliance group company, has been taken into custody in an ongoing money laundering probe related to banking fraud against Ambani and his group entities. “The degree of fraud can be gauged from the fact that Reliance Power group submitted a bank guarantee from FirstRand Bank, Manila, Philippines. The fact is that there exists no branch of FirstRand Bank in the Philippines,” sources said.
RPL, its top execs accused of alleged diversion of funds
Fake and spoofed domains of commercial banks, such as sbi.17313@s-bi.co.in a look alike of SBI email was created by inserting a hyphen to commit the fraud, an official said. Similar emails of other PSU banks have also been used by the accused. Reliance Power Limited (RPL) is a listed company where public holds more than 75% shares. The company and its top executives are accused of alleged diversion of funds. “Board resolution empowered CFO Ashok Pal and others to finalise, approve, sign and execute all documents for Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) BESS tender, and to use RPL’s financial capability for the bid,” the agency sources said. In a statement, RPL said, “The company & its subsidiaries acted bonafidely and are a victim of fraud, forgery and cheating conspiracy. We also wish to clarify on media reports that Anil D Ambani is not on Board of Reliance Power Limited for more than 3.5 years and is not concerned with this matter in any manner.”On Aug 1, ED had conducted searches at three premises in Bhubaneswar and one at Kolkata after its investigators found alleged evidence of Rs 68 crore fake bank guarantee provided to SECI on behalf of Reliance NU BESS Ltd/Maharashtra Energy Generation Ltd. The fake bank guarantee was generated by a shell entity registered at Bhubaneswar, allegedly linked to Anil Ambani group. Spoofed email accounts were created to make them look genuine, sources said. Besides the allegedly forged bank guarantee, Anil Ambani’s Reliance group is also being probed for alleged fake bills for commission. The agency sources alleged that Pal “played crucial role in submitting a bogus bank guarantee of over Rs 68 crore to SECI, with an intention to cheat the PSU”. The probe has revealed that Pal was instrumental in selecting Biswal Tradelink Pvt Ltd to provide fake bank guarantee. Director of BTPL Partha Sarathi Biswal was arrested earlier and is currently in judicial custody. ED also found alleged diversion of money through fake transport invoices of several crores of rupees.
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