India federal agency freezes Anil Ambani Group's $853 million properties

India's financial crime agency has frozen 75 billion rupees ($853 million) worth of properties linked to companies of the Reliance Anil Ambani Group as part of a money-laundering probe, it said in a statement on Monday.

The move relates to cases involving Reliance Communications Ltd and its affiliates over the alleged diversion of about 136 billion rupees and loans of more than $569 million taken by the group from India's YES Bank between 2017 and 2019 that the ED says were diverted and laundered.

The troubled conglomerate is owned by the younger brother of billionaire Mukesh Ambani. Reliance Infrastructure, another Anil Ambani Group company, said there was no impact on its operations, shareholders and employees from the Enforcement Directorate's (ED) action.

Other group companies did not comment, while YES Bank declined to comment.

ED said Reliance Communications Ltd and its group companies diverted more than 136 billion rupees through loan "evergreening", a practice where new loans are given to stressed borrowers to enable them to repay existing loans.

Investigators have detected the "fraudulent diversion of public money" by entities including Reliance Group-controlled companies Reliance Home Finance Ltd and Reliance Commercial Finance Ltd, the ED said.

These companies received over 100 billion rupees of public funds, including loans from YES Bank, through shell companies, it said.

The agency also said it had blocked any transactions from taking place on residential units and land parcels across Mumbai, Delhi and Chennai, including industrialist Anil Ambani's family residence in Mumbai.

"ED's investigation revealed that loans taken by one entity from one bank were utilized for repayment of loans taken by other entities from other banks, transfer to related parties, and investments in mutual funds, which was in contravention to the terms and conditions of the sanction letter of the loans," the agency said.

The Reliance Group entities are also accused of paying bribes to YES Bank officials before loans were disbursed, a government source had said earlier.