ED arrests Anil Ambani's close aide and senior Reliance Power executive Ashok Kumar Pal in money laundering case
PTC News Desk: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has arrested Ashok Pal, the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of Reliance Power — part of industrialist Anil Ambani’s group — in a money laundering case related to a fake bank guarantee worth ₹68 crore, officials said on Saturday.
According to sources, Pal was taken into custody on Friday night under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) after being questioned by the agency. He will be presented before a special court on Saturday, where the ED is expected to seek his custodial remand for further interrogation.
The case involves a ₹68.2 crore bank guarantee submitted to Solar Energy Corporation of India Limited (SECI) on behalf of Reliance NU BESS Limited, a subsidiary of Reliance Power, which was later found to be “fake.”
The ED identified the Odisha-based Biswal Tradelink as the company behind the racket that provided “fake” bank guarantees to business entities. In August, the agency conducted raids on the firm and its promoters, arresting its Managing Director, Partha Sarathi Biswal.
The money laundering probe stems from an FIR filed by the Delhi Police’s Economic Offences Wing (EOW) in November 2024, which alleged that the company issued bogus bank guarantees in exchange for an 8% commission.
Reliance Group had earlier stated that Reliance Power was a “victim of fraud, forgery, and cheating,” and disclosed the matter to stock exchanges on November 7, 2024. A company spokesperson said they had filed a criminal complaint against the accused firm with the Delhi Police’s EOW in October 2024, and that legal proceedings were underway.
ED sources revealed that Biswal Tradelink had created a fake email domain — s-bi.co.in — resembling sbi.co.in (the domain of State Bank of India) to make their communications appear authentic. This domain was used to send forged correspondence to SECI.
Preliminary findings suggest the company also generated fake bills for commissions and operated multiple undisclosed bank accounts through which suspicious transactions worth crores of rupees were carried out.
Investigators described Biswal Tradelink as a “paper company,” noting that its registered office was merely a residential property owned by a relative of Biswal, and no business records were found there during searches.
- PTC NEWS
