Reliance Power CFO Ashok Kumar Pal arrested by ED in ₹68.2 crore fake bank guarantee money laundering probe
According to agency authorities, Ashok Kumar Pal, executive director and chief financial officer of Reliance Power Limited, was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate. This is in connection with a money-laundering investigation into an allegedly fake bank guarantee worth ₹68.2 crore.
Aadrika Tayal 
New Delhi (India) October 12: Ashok Kumar Pal, Anil Ambani's aide and Chief Financial Officer (CFO) at Reliance Power, has been taken into custody by the Enforcement Directorate. This is in relation to a case involving a fake bank guarantee. This development occurs as the ED expands its investigation into purported financial irregularities involving the Reliance Group.
ED Custody After Interrogation
Ashok Pal is an executive director of Reliance Power. He was arrested in connection with an alleged Rs 68.2 crore false bank guarantee scheme. Pal was reportedly taken into custody late Thursday night after a round of interrogation at the Delhi office of the ED.
On January 29, 2023, Pal, a chartered accountant, was named the company's Chief Financial Officer (CFO). He has over seven years of experience with Reliance Power.
Fake Guarantee for SECI Tender
This ED case comes from a 2024 FIR filed by the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) on a false assurance given to the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy's Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI). It is a public sector organization.
Pal was authorized by the firm board to finalize, approve, and sign all documentation for SECI's battery energy storage system (BESS) tender. He was using Reliance Power's financial capacity for the bid. He allegedly played a significant part in money diversion, according to ED officials.
The arrest follows weeks of ED searches conducted in connection with the investigation under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) in several places. It includes Bhubaneswar and Kolkata.
According to the ED, fraudulent bank guarantees were issued under the names of Anil Ambani group companies Reliance NU BESS Limited and Maharashtra Energy Generation Limited.
Role of Biswal Tradelink
The ED claims that Biswal Tradelink, an Odisha-based business, is a major participant in this purported scam. Investigations have revealed that Biswal Tradelink with its directors and associates was reportedly issuing false bank guarantees in exchange for an 8% commission.
According to reports, the company only existed on paper and enabled fraudulent billing. It also used multiple unnamed bank accounts to conduct questionable transactions totaling crores of rupees.
Investigators also found that the main players in the scheme were using the Telegram messaging app to communicate, with the "disappearing messages" function turned on. This was likely an attempt to hide their digital trail and erase evidence.
Telegram & Fake SBI Domain
Investigators claimed that in order to provide messages addressed to SECI the appearance of legality, the Bhubaneswar-based company imitated the official domain of the State Bank of India by using the email domain s-bi.co.in.
Over the past few months, the ED has been investigating a number of other Reliance Group entities. Anil Ambani has been questioned by the agency in connection with other cases.
