Anil Ambani to pay USD 100 mn in conditional order for Chinese banks: UK court

PTI, Feb 8, 2020, 11:45 AM IST

London: A UK court on Friday, February 8 directed Reliance Group chairman Anil Ambani to pay USD 100 million towards a conditional order granted to three Chinese banks pursuing the recovery of over USD 680 million owed to them as part of a loan agreement.

In what is in effect a deposit to be paid into court pending a full trial in the case, Judge David Waksman has set a six-week timeline for such a payment to be made as he concluded that he did not accept Ambani’s defense that his net worth was nearly zero or that his family would not step in to assist him when push came to shove.

In my overall conclusion, Mr. Ambani has not satisfied me that he can’t make any payment at all, said Judge Waksman, as he expressed particular criticism of a lack of candor and transparency on the part of Ambani’s defense in reference to his financial means.

The Reliance Group indicated that it plans to appeal against the ruling, which will involve a process of seeking permission to appeal.

Mr. Ambani is reviewing the order of the UK Court and will take legal advice as to further remedies in appeal, a spokesperson for Anil Ambani said.

The order pertains to an alleged personal liability of Mr. Ambani and will have no bearing on the operations of the Reliance Infrastructure Limited, Reliance Power Limited and Reliance Capital Limited, the spokesperson said.

The banks Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Ltd Mumbai Branch, on behalf of itself, China Development Bank and Exim Bank of China welcomed the order and said they remain confident of their claim succeeding at trial.