Son of industrialist, Anil Ambani, Jai Anmol Ambani has been slapped with a penalty of ₹1 crore by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi).
He was penalised for alleged irregularities in Reliance Home Finance.
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Jai Anmol did not exercise reasonable due diligence for the entire GPCL (general purpose working capital) lending and the onward lending by these GPCL entities to other Reliance ADAG group companies including Reliance Capital, SEBI alleged.SEBI has also imposed a separate fine of Rs 15 Lakh on Krishnan Gopalkrishnan, the former CRO of Reliance Home Finance.
An investigation by the regulator has revealed that RHFL’s loan approval process for GPCL lending showed major flaws, with deviations in loans totaling Rs. 5,850.19 crore, including waived investigations, unmet eligibility criteria, and poor documentation.
According to the SEBI, despite assigning due diligence responsibilities, loans were approved without sufficient rationale to financially weak entities with negative net worth and no assets.
The Sebi noted, “It is evident that Noticee 1 (Jai Anmol Ambani) is misrepresenting with an intent to downplay his role in the entire episode. It is clear that the emails were sent to him with exact word “approval”, thus seeking approval and Noticee 1 responded to both the emails with the same word “okay”, granting his approval.”
Jai Anmol was involved in the day-to-day functioning of the company and was also approving GPCL loans to promoter-related entities, it said, adding, “his submission that he was not involved in day-to-day affairs of the Company cannot be accepted.”
The SEBI also noted that former CRO Gopalakrishnan approved several GPCL loans despite being aware of significant deviations recorded in the credit approval memos for the loans he recommended.
The development came after earlier in August, Anil Ambani was banned from the securities market for five years, citing his alleged involvement in a fraudulent scheme that diverted funds from Reliance Home Finance.
