New Delhi

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has set up a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to examine multiple cases of alleged banking and corporate fraud amounting to nearly Rs 40,000 crore involving the Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group (ADAG) and its associated entities, official sources said on Monday.

The SIT is headed by an officer of additional director rank from the agency’s Headquarters Investigation Unit (HIU) and includes around six other investigators, the sources told PTI.

The move follows directions issued by the Supreme Court last week while hearing matters related to cases against ADAG. The top court had asked the ED to constitute a dedicated team to ensure a “fair, independent, prompt and dispassionate” investigation into the allegations.

The apex court had also instructed the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which is conducting a parallel probe, to examine any possible nexus, collusion or conspiracy linked to the cases and to carry its investigation to its logical conclusion.

The ED has been probing Anil Ambani and companies belonging to his Reliance Group since last year. So far, the agency has registered three Enforcement Case Information Reports (ECIRs) — the ED’s equivalent of FIRs — under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) and has provisionally attached assets valued at about Rs 12,000 crore.

According to sources, the newly constituted SIT may register additional ECIRs as it widens its probe into alleged financial irregularities, questionable transactions and suspected diversion of funds by ADAG companies and their senior executives.

Ambani, 66, was questioned by the ED last year in connection with alleged irregularities in bank loans availed by group firms. Recently, the agency arrested a former senior executive of the group, Punit Garg, who had earlier served as president of Reliance Communications Ltd (RCOM).

In the past, Anil Ambani Group companies have denied all allegations of wrongdoing.

The ED has earlier stated that it had detected “fraudulent diversion” of public funds by several companies of the Reliance Anil Ambani Group, including Reliance Communications Ltd, Reliance Home Finance Ltd (RHFL), Reliance Commercial Finance Ltd (RCFL), Reliance Infrastructure Ltd and Reliance Power Ltd.

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The agency has also maintained that it is actively pursuing those responsible for financial crimes in the case and is committed to recovering and restoring the proceeds of crime to their legitimate claimants.