New Delhi: Anil Ambani’s legal counsel, Agarwal Law Associates, has responded to the State Bank of India’s move to classify the Reliance Communications loan account as fraud, stating that the firm is shocked to receive the ex-party order of the bank’s Fraud Identification Committee.
In this statement, the law firm said the bank has not responded to Ambani’s last communication for over a year. It emphasised that Ambani was serving only as a non-executive director at the time of the alleged transactions and had no role in the day-to-day functioning or operations of the now-defunct telecom company.
Story that caught the eye: SBI tags RCom as ‘fraud account’ over alleged fund diversion . Anil Ambani lawyers say order defies court rulings and RBI norms. Whopping Rs 4,90,00,00,00,000 of public money at stake in this matter. No CBI/ED investigation yet: Vijay Mallya must wonder… pic.twitter.com/gjHrN2Zsj3
— Rajdeep Sardesai (@sardesairajdeep) July 3, 2025
The legal team has also raised concerns over due process, alleging that the SBI failed to provide Ambani with a personal hearing and did not furnish relevant documents about the fraud classification. The firm has formally requested that the bank withdraw the classification.
This comes after the SBI decided to mark RCom’s loan account as fraud based on transactions dating back to August 2016, according to a regulatory filing. The bank is also set to report Anil Ambani to the Reserve Bank of India as part of its obligations regarding the key managerial personnel linked to such cases.
RCom, which is currently undergoing a corporate insolvency resolution process under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, clarified that the resolution plan has already been approved by its committee of creditors and awaits final nod from the National Company Law Tribunal.
Under the RBI guidelines, banks are required to report fraudulent accounts to the central bank within seven days. If the fraud involves more than Rs 1 crore, a complaint must be filed with the Central Bureau of Investigation within 30 days. The classification could open the door for further investigation. Neither SBI nor Ambani has publicly commented on the matter yet.
