| New Delhi – The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has arrested Ashok Kumar Pal, the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) and Executive Director of Reliance Power Limited in connection with a money laundering case linked to issuance of an alleged fake bank guarantee of ₹68 crore linked to companies within the Anil Ambani-led Reliance ADA Group. The CFO, Ashok Pal, was taken into custody on Friday night under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) after he was questioned by the agency, they said. He will be produced before a special court on Saturday and the agency will seek his remand for custodial interrogation, according to the sources. The case pertains to a bank guarantee of Rs 68.2 crore submitted to the Solar Energy Corporation of India Limited (SECI) on behalf of Reliance NU BESS Limited, a subsidiary of Reliance Power, a listed company, which was found to be fake. The company was formerly known as Maharashtra Energy Generation Limited. As per the findings of the ED, Ashok Pal played a central role in orchestrating and supervising the preparation and submission of the fake bank guarantee worth ₹68.2 crore to SECI. ED maintains that Pal used the financial credibility of Reliance Power to bid for SECI’s Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) tender and approved payment and documents related to the fraudulent guarantee. Investigation revealed that the fake guarantee purportedly came from “FirstRand Bank, Manila”, though no such branch existed in the Philippines. The ED further alleged that the group used spoof email domains mimicking major Indian banks such as “s-bi.co.in” instead of “sbi.co.in” in an attempt to make forged instruments appear genuine. Several other fake domains resembling Indian Bank, PNB, and Union Bank were also detected to have been used. The probe revealed suspicious financial transactions, undisclosed bank accounts and use of encrypted communication platforms like Telegram with disappearing messages to conceal evidence, along with fake transport invoices worth several crores that were used to divert funds. Ashok Kumar Pal is a qualified Chartered Accountant with over 25 years of experience in finance, accounts, taxation, and management information systems (MIS). Ashok Pal has been associated with the Reliance Power group for over seven years was appointed as CFO on January 29, 2023 and has been holding the position since. |
Reliance Power CFO arrested by ED
