Business & Economy
LIC RCom Case Enters Criminal Charge Sheet Stage
Investigators allege false claims and diverted bond proceeds deepened losses.
Investigators allege false claims and diverted bond proceeds deepened losses.
’s losses on are no longer being seen as just a bad investment. New claims say the insurer was pushed to buy debt with false claims about the company’s finances and the assets behind it. The money was later diverted, which added to losses for a pub insurer and, by extension, its poyholders and taxpayers.
The new names former and officials. That moves the case toward possible criminal wrongdoing and raises a larger question: did check the deal closely enough and follow where the money went? If proved, the case could warn pub bodies against making large, risky bets on weak companies.
The filed a before a in Mumbai in the cheating case. It named RCom, executives Amitabh Jhunjhunwala and Vishwas Joshi, and former LIC Chief Investment Officer P. Venugopal. The agency said the accused faced charges of criminal conspiracy, cheating, , and offences under the .
The charge sheet alleges the proceeds were diverted to , causing wrongful loss to and wrongful gain to the accused. The case now tests how a assessed security, relied on disclosures, and monitored the use of pub money. It has also widened into a broader question of accountability for both corporate officers and officials involved in .
The CBI registered a fresh case against Anil Ambani and RCom over an alleged ₹3,750 crore loss to LIC. The agency said the insurer was to subscribe to RCom’s NCDs on the basis of false representations about financial health and asset cover. This marked the move from a long-running loss dispute into a new criminal investigation focused on alleged cheating and .
The said the case was filed on a complaint from LIC and that it was the fourth case against the company and Anil Ambani. Reports said the complaint centered on how LIC had been persuaded to invest ₹4,500 crore in RCom NCDs between 2009 and 2012. The filing sharpened attention on public-sector insurer oversight and whether investment approvals met basic standards.
A BDO India dated October 15, 2020 said RCom and its management misused funds raised from banks and financial institutions. The report cited routing of funds through subsidiaries, fictitious bills, , and . Those findings became a key basis for the later allegation that money from the NCDs was diverted to .
By 2017, a large part of LIC’s investment had not been repaid, with reports saying ₹3,750 crore remained . The amount turned the earlier bond purchases into a major loss event for the insurer. It also pushed the dispute beyond a failed investment and toward formal scrutiny of how the money had been raised and used.
LIC bought a further ₹1,500 crore of in February 2012, taking total LIC exposure in the instruments to ₹4,500 crore. The CBI later said this second purchase was also made on the basis of false statements about the company’s financial position and . This second investment is central to the allegation that the insurer was induced to keep funding the company despite mounting stress.
invested ₹3,000 crore in issued by in March 2009, beginning the exposure at the center of the case. The later CBI complaint says relied on claims about RCom’s financial health and security cover when it approved the purchase. That first tranche is now treated as the start of the alleged misrepresentation and loss to the pub insurer.