New Delhi: Industrialist Anil Ambani was held guilty of contempt on Wednesday by the Supreme Court, which said he will go to jail for three months if he doesn’t pay Rs. 453 crore to Ericsson India within four weeks. The court
tore into the Reliance Communications chairman for what it called a “cavalier attitude” and fined him and two of his directors Rs. 1 crore each. “Anil Ambani and others breached their undertaking,” the court said, calling it
“willful disobedience” of its order that they should repay Swedish telecom equipment maker Ericsson. In a statement, a Reliance Communication Limited spokesperson said: “We respect the Supreme Court judgement. The RCOM
Group shall comply with the same.”
The Supreme Court ruled that Rs. 180 crore already deposited by Reliance Group in the court registry be given to Ericsson. It also said any unconditional apology given by Reliance needs to be rejected as they had “breached the
undertaking and order”.
Ericsson India signed a seven-year deal with RCom in 2014 to manage and operate its network. Last year, it went to the Supreme Court against Anil Ambani’s company over unpaid dues of Rs. 550 crore.
Ericsson had argued before the court that while the Reliance Group had the money to invest in the Rafale jet deal, it had failed to clear its dues, a charge which was vehemently denied by the Anil Ambani-led company.
Anil Ambani’s Reliance Defence is one of the offset partners of Dassault, the maker of the Rafale jets for which India and France signed a deal in 2016. The 36-jet contract is at the core of the opposition’s allegations of corruption
to benefit Anil Ambani; the allegation has been strongly refuted by the government, Reliance and Dassault and the Supreme Court also dismissed calls for an investigation.
Anil Ambani had told the top court that with the failure of an assets sale deal with older brother Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Jio, his company had entered insolvency proceedings and was not in control of the funds. The assets
sale was stalled after the government refused to provide immunity to Mukesh Ambani’s firm from any past-payment liabilities.
