Business: Reliance Group Chairman Anil Ambani has offered to appear virtually before the Enforcement Directorate on Friday following the summons issued under FEMA. This has been said in a statement issued by the spokesperson of 66-year-old businessman Anil Ambani. Anil Ambani has written a letter to the investigating agency assuring ‘full cooperation’ in the investigation being conducted under the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA).

Know what is the whole matter here?
According to sources, the agency had asked Ambani to appear in person on Friday to record his statement under FEMA. This investigation is related to the Jaipur-Ringas Highway Project. ED suspects that an amount of about Rs 100 crore was sent abroad through Hawala.

The ED has recorded statements of various persons, including some alleged hawala dealers, after which they have decided to summon Ambani. Hawala refers to the illegal movement of money, which is mainly in cash. The businessman has been questioned once by the ED in a money laundering case. This is related to an alleged bank fraud of Rs 17,000 crore against his group companies.

What did Reliance say in its statement?
“This matter (FEMA case) is 15 years old, dates back to 2010 and pertains to a road contract,” the statement said. In 2010, Reliance Infrastructure Limited was awarded the EPC contract for the construction of JR Toll Road (Jaipur-Ringas Highway). This was a purely domestic contract, with no foreign exchange components involved.

According to the statement, “JR Toll Road has been completely completed and from 2021 it has been with the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) for the last four years.” Ambani is not a member of the board of Reliance Infrastructure. “He served as a non-executive director at the company for approximately fifteen years from April 2007 to March 2022 and was never involved in the day-to-day management of the company,” the statement said.