The court took note of allegations of irregularities and the departure of PwC<\/a> as auditor of Reliance Capital. PwC had resigned as auditor last June saying it did not get satisfactory answers to its queries, but the company had said nothing was wrong.
“Mr Howe QC suggested that even if there were some truth in these matters, that is all on the part of the companies; it does not necessarily have any reflection on Mr Ambani. That is hopeless in my judgment,” according to the order by Justice Waksman in the case between Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, Mumbai Branch and Anil Dhirubhai Ambani. The recent order has now been uploaded.
It said Ambani was actively involved in running companies.
“It is perfectly clear through all the evidence we have seen that Mr Ambani is not some form of titular chairman who really has nothing to do with these companies.
He is extensively and actively involved in them. To suggest that if there were any serious deficiencies in the companies’ corporate governance he was not aware of it is wholly unrealistic in my view.”
Ambani’s lawyers had last week told the UK court that business tycoon was not in a position to pay dues worth $680 million to top Chinese banks as his net worth is zero.
The Anil Ambani group did not respond to ET’s queries.
The court did not believe Ambani’s assertion that his family would not help him. “I do not accept that the true position now is that all the other members of the family have firmly and irrevocably pulled the shutters down so that no funding would be available from them in the event that monies had to be paid into court,” the judge said.
Ambani had told the court about the woes of the telecom industry<\/a> but the judge said this was not the issue before the court.
“What is an issue is what he says flows from that.
First of all, that, as a result of that, he now has a negative net worth and second, that as a result he does not hold any meaningful assets which can be liquidated …,” the order said. Ambani said even the money paid to Ericsson was not a gift.
“He said that, in fact, the payment was made by Reliance Realty Limited on behalf of RCom, and that company had raised the funds by leasing a part of the property that it held to an associate company, Reliance Industries Limited,” the order said.
The court mentioned a public statement saying: “My sincere and heartfelt thanks to my respected elder brother, Mukesh, and Nita, for standing by me during these trying times and demonstrating the importance of staying true to our strong family values by extending this timely support. I and my family are grateful we have moved beyond the past and are deeply touched with this gesture.”
The order noted Anil Ambani’s response that the statement only captured the gratitude he expressed to his elder brother and his wife.
“It is not apparent that the press release which I have already quoted is limited in such a way,” the order said. Anil Ambani had told the court about his personal income.
“… in 2018-2019, his income was the equivalent of £12.3 million. A very modest proportion, about £600,000, came from a company called Reliance Infrastructure Limited, for what have been referred to as professional fees; but the rest of it, largely, came from the sale of shares which he held in his brother Mukesh's company, Reliance Industries Limited, which were sold on 6th February 2019.” Ambani also shared his “living expenses” with the court.
As at the date of this witness statement, that is January this year, he said that his income by way of fees this year will be about £550,000, which Ambani said ‘will be used for his day-to-day living expenses’. So far as those living expenses are concerned, they were put elsewhere in the statement of net worth as being in the region of $187,000 a year.
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