The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has seized assets worth ₹54.82 crore belonging to Reliance Infrastructure Limited (R-Infra) in a major crackdown on suspected foreign exchange violations. The action, taken by the agency’s Special Task Force at its headquarters, includes the freezing of 13 bank accounts under Section 37A of the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA), 1999.

According to the ED, R-Infra allegedly diverted funds from its Special Purpose Vehicles (SPVs) that were meant for National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) road construction projects. Investigators claim the company routed these funds to several Mumbai-based shell companies under the guise of fake sub-contracting work. These entities were reportedly created using dummy directors and operated through select bank branches to avoid detection.

The probe revealed that the siphoned money was layered through multiple shell companies before being transferred abroad to firms in the United Arab Emirates. The purported payments were shown as imports of polished and unpolished diamonds, but the ED found no evidence of actual goods or valid import documentation. The UAE firms were linked to individuals engaged in illegal international hawala operations and maintained accounts in both UAE and Hong Kong.

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Investigators also discovered that the shell firms involved in the laundering network were connected to hawala transactions exceeding ₹600 crore. The ED has invoked Section 4 of FEMA, citing unauthorized foreign remittances and diversion of public project funds as key violations.

The agency stated that the alleged diversion led to cash-flow shortages within the SPVs, eventually causing bank loans to turn into Non-Performing Assets (NPAs). This, according to the ED, resulted in heavy losses to lenders and adversely impacted public infrastructure development. Further investigation is underway, with the ED examining the broader financial trail, overseas links, and possible involvement of additional entities in the laundering scheme.

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