India markets regulator bans Anil Ambani from securities market for 5 years (updated)

Reliance Home Finance

23/08/2024 08:26

(RPT of story published August 23, 20242:27 PM GMT+8)
       MUMBAI/BENGALURU, Aug 23 (Reuters) - India's markets
regulator late on Thursday banned Anil Ambani and 24 others from
the securities market for five years on charges of diversion of
funds.
    The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) also
imposed a fine of 250 million rupees (about $3 million) on
Ambani, saying he orchestrated a scheme to "siphon off" funds
from Reliance Home Finance Ltd  RLIC.NS .
    The regulator said the "fraudulent" scheme was to "siphon
off" funds from Reliance Home by structuring them as 'loans' to
credit-unworthy borrowers.
Most of these borrowers were linked to large shareholders with
the ability to influence company decisions, the SEBI added. 
    An email to Anil Ambani-led Reliance group spokesperson were
not answered immediately. A spokesperson for Reliance Capital,
the holding company, declined to immediately comment.
    The Reliance Group was created in July 2006 following a
demerger from Reliance Industries Ltd  RELI.NS , which is led by
Anil's brother Mukesh Ambani.
Reliance Home Finance's shares fell 5% after the news.
($1 = 83.8620 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Jayshree P Upadhyay in Mumbai and Hritam Mukherjee
in Bengaluru; Editing by Nivedita Bhattacharjee and Savio
D'Souza)
((mailto:Hritam.Mukherjee@thomsonreuters.com; X:
@MukherjeeHritam;))