January 16 The Mumbai bench of the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) will hear on Monday Reliance Jio’s plea seeking access to the forensic audit report based on which banks had declared the accounts of Reliance Communications and its subsidiary Reliance Infratel Ltd (RITL) as fraudulent.
Reliance Jio group company Reliance Projects and Properties Management Services Limited was the successful bidder for RITL assets under the insolvency and bankruptcy rules. The company had bid ₹4,400 crore for the RITL through NCLT has driven resolution process. However, this deal hit a bump after the State Bank of India tagged the RITL account as fraudulent. Subsequently, Jio filed an application in the NCLT seeking access to the forensic report. RITL had moved the Delhi High Court on January 6, 2021, and got a stay against SBI, while the court also ordered to maintain the status quo.
This issue has delayed Jio’s acquisition of RITL by over a year. According to industry sources, the delay could have resulted in a loss of ₹300-400 crore for the banks. In 2019, Mukesh Ambani-backed Reliance Jio Infocomm emerged as the highest bidder for tower and fibre assets under Reliance Infra, a company previously owned by Anil Ambani.