Reliance ADAG Billionaire Anil Ambani back in spotlight for possible role in telecom corruption scandal

India's Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) told the Supreme Court that it was investigating the alleged involvement of Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group (ADAG) chairman Anil Ambani in the so-called 2G spectrum allocation scam, India Today reports.

After a rift with his older brother, Mukesh Ambani, resulted in the carving up of India's largest business conglomerate into two new conglomerates, Reliance Industries Ltd. and ADAG, Anil was ranked as the eighth richest Indian on the Forbes list last year, with a fortune of around $8.8 billion.  Anil received the group's telecommunications company in the deal, among other assets, while Mukesh, who is worth nearly $30 billion, got the oil and gas related businesses.

Earlier, the CBI had arrested three senior ADAG executives — Gautam Doshi, Hari Nayar and Surinder Pipara, all of whom are currently behind bars awaiting trial — but left Anil out of the net.  Now, the CBI is banking that the executives aim to become cooperating witnesses and, presumably, dish the dirt about their boss.

"In one instance, they have taken responsibilities for all Reliance ADAG decisions, while in the high court they said they were mere employees and only implemented orders from above," the CBI said, according to the magazine.  "We want to know who are the real beneficiaries. We feel these three may turn approvers," the agency added.

The stock market reacted dramatically to the news, reports Bloomberg.

Reliance Communications Ltd. (RCOM) dropped 5.2 percent to 73.55 rupees at 9:24 a.m. in Mumbai, Reliance Capital Ltd. (RCAPT) plunged 7.2 percent to 333.8 rupees, while Reliance Infrastructure Ltd. (RELI) lost 5.9 percent to 379.5 rupees, the financial news agency said.

There’s been no change in stance “by any of the Reliance executives,” Bloomberg said spokesman Daljeet Singh said in a statement today. Neither Reliance Telecom nor Reliance ADA Group “are beneficiaries of any telecom licence issued in January 2008.”