Mumbai, Feb 8: Anil Ambani, the brother of Asia’s richest man has pleaded poverty in his dispute with three Chinese banks seeking $680 million in defaulted loans.
“The value of my investments has collapsed,” Anil Ambani said, according to a court filing by the banks in a London lawsuit.
“The current value of my shareholdings is down to approximately $82.4m and my net worth is zero after taking into account my liabilities. In summary, I do not hold any meaningful assets which can be liquidated for the purposes of these proceedings.”
The lawsuit was filed by three state-controlled Chinese banks which argue that they provided a loan of $925 million to Ambani’s Reliance Communications Ltd. in 2012 with the condition that he personally guarantee the debt. The comments were disclosed on Friday as Ambani sought to avoid depositing hundreds of millions of dollars with the court ahead of a trial.
The embattled Indian tycoon says that while he agreed to give a non-binding “personal comfort letter,” he never gave a guarantee tied to his personal assets -- an “extraordinary potential personal liability.”
The 60-year-old is the brother of Mukesh Ambani, who’s worth $56.5 billion and is the wealthiest man in Asia. Anil, on the other hand, has seen his personal fortune dwindle over recent years, losing his billionaire status. His Reliance Communications filed for bankruptcy last year.
The banks asked Judge David Waksman to force Ambani to put up $656 million into the court’s account.
Representatives for Ambani’s Reliance Group said they couldn’t immediately comment. They said the group will issue a statement once the court issues the final order.
Ambani’s lawyer, Robert Howe, said the court shouldn’t order his client to make a payment he can’t make. The tycoon argues that an order requiring him to do so would hinder his ability to defend himself in the case, Howe said.
“There’s no evidence of some giant pot of gold that he can pull $1 million, let alone $10 million, let alone $100 million,” Howe said.
Bankim Thanki, an attorney representing Industrial & Commercial Bank of China Ltd., China Development Bank and the Export-Import Bank of China, said in a filing that Ambani’s statements are “plainly a yet further opportunistic attempt to evade his financial obligations to the lenders.”
Ambani was caught up in another legal wrangle last year when India’s Supreme Court threatened him with prison after Reliance Communications failed to pay Rs 5.5 billion ($77 million) to Ericsson AB’s Indian unit. The judges gave him a month to find the funds, and his brother, Mukesh, stepped in just in time to make the payment.
Anil said in a filing that he recognized that the judge would want to know if he could satisfy any order to put up funds from outside resources, including his family.
“I can confirm that I have made enquiries but I am unable to raise any finance from external sources,” he said. Judge Waksman had said in an earlier ruling that he believed Ambani’s defence would be shown to be “opportunistic and false.”
Ambani’s lawyer told the judge that as a result of the comments the tycoon’s relatives were unlikely to lend any funds.
There is a “very substantial risk they will never get it back,” Howe said.
Comments
Kobrakka...
you know what human lives are much more important than cows, are you agree if cow protectors are killing human to protect cows ??? if so you should thrash those people who killing and exporting to Gulf countries.
Dear Shobakka, you shgould agitate to know who are the real cow thieves and where are they supplying these. I am 100 percent sure that 99 percent of these thieves are from sangh parivar and they transport the cows to Gujrat beef exporters owned by sanghis. Shoba is trying to fool us and divert the issue. She also knows the fact but doing drama. She is following her boss in this practice. Why dont you urgent in parliament to stop beef export and declare cow as national animal? Why bjp is not interesting is doing so and doing drama on cow. For them cow is sacred and should not be consumed by poor people in india and not sacred for exporting beef out of the country. does Shoba also has any beef exporting factory in Gujarat? May be yes.
ಈ ಎಂಪಿ ಖಾಲಿ ಜಾನುವಾರುಗಳ ಹಿಂದೆಯೇ ಇರುವುದು ಬಿಟ್ಟರೆ ಬೇರೆ ಕೆಲಸ ಇಲ್ಲವೇ?
ಯಾರಾದರೂ ಅವರಿಗೆ ಸ್ವಲ್ಪಹೇಳಿ ಕೊಡಿರಿ - ಜಾನುವಾರು ಕಳವು ಆದರೆ ಅದಕ್ಕೆ ಪೊಲೀಸ್ ಡಿಪಾರ್ಟ್ಮೆಂಟ್ ಇದೆ- ಅವರು ಅದರ ಬಗ್ಗೆ ಕೆಲಸ ಮಾಡುತ್ತಾರೆ
ನಿಮ್ಮ ಕೆಲಸ ನಿಮ್ಮ ಕ್ಷೇತ್ರದ ಅಭಿವೃದ್ಧಿ - ಅದರ ಬಗ್ಗೆ ಗಮನ ಕೊಡಿ ಮೇಡಂ
ಗತಿಸಿದ ೫ ವರ್ಷ ಖಾಲಿ ಹೆಣ ಮತ್ತು ದನದ ಹಿಂದೆಯೇ ಆಯಿತು
ಈ ೫ ವರ್ಷ ವಾದರೂ ದಯಮಾಡಿ ಅಭಿವೃದ್ಧಿ ಕಡೆ ಗಮನ ಕೊಡಿ ಪ್ಲೀಸ್
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