Anil Ambani Guilty Of Contempt; Pay Up Or Go To Jail, Says Supreme Court

February 20, 2019

Anil Ambani Guilty Of Contempt; Pay Up Or Go To Jail, Says Supreme Court

हिंदी में पढ़ें தமிழில் படிக்க বাংলায় পড়ুন

Swedish telecom equipment maker Ericsson had gone to the Supreme Court against Anil Ambani's company for not clearing dues.

All India | Reported by A Vaidyanathan, Edited by Deepshikha Ghosh | Updated: February 20, 2019 11:25 IST

Anil Ambani will go to jail for three months if he doesn't pay 450 crores to Ericsson, Supreme Court said

NEW DELHI:

Industrialist Anil Ambani has been held guilty of contempt by the Supreme Court, which said today that he will go to jail for three months if he doesn't pay Rs. 450 crore to Ericsson India within four weeks. The court tore into the Reliance Group chairman for a "cavalier attitude" and fined him and two of his directors Rs. 1 crore each.

"Anil Ambani and others breached their undertaking," the court said, calling it "willful disobedience" of its order that they should repay Swedish telecom equipment maker Ericcson.

In a statement, a Reliance Communication Limited spokesperson said, "We respect the Supreme Court judgement. The RCOM Group shall comply with the same."

Ericsson India had gone to the Supreme Court against Anil Ambani's company for not clearing its dues. Ericsson had argued before the court that while the Reliance Group had money to invest in the Rafale jet deal, they were unable to clear Rs. 550 crore they owed, a charge which was vehemently denied by the Anil Ambani-led company.

Anil Ambani's Reliance Defence is one of the offset partners of Dassault, the maker of the Rafale fighter jets for which India and France signed a deal in 2016. The 36-jet contract is at the core of the opposition's allegations that the government settled for an overpriced deal to help Anil Ambani; the allegation has been strongly refuted by the government, Reliance and Dassault and the Supreme Court also dismissed calls for an investigation.

Anil Ambani had told the top court that with the failure of an assets sale deal with older brother Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Jio, his company had entered insolvency proceedings and was not in control of the funds.

Reliance Communications (RCom) had told the court that it had tried to move "heaven and earth" to ensure Ericsson gets its due but was unable to do so because of the failed assets sale deal.

The contempt petition was filed against Anil Ambani, Reliance Telecom chairman Satish Seth and Reliance Infratel chairperson Chhaya Virani.

On October 23, the court had asked RCom to clear its dues by December 15, warning that delayed payment would mean an interest of 12 per cent a year.

COMMENT

The plea by Ericsson had sought that the court direct Anil Ambani and the lenders' forum to hand over the Rs. 550 crore with interest from sale proceeds, per that order.

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