Reliance Group chairman Anil Ambani and two directors were held guilty of contempt of court by the Supreme Court on Wednesday, on a plea filed by Ericsson India over not clearing its dues of Rs 550 crore.
The court said Ambani and directors Satish Seth and Chhaya Virani would go to jail for 3 months if they did not pay Rs. 453 crore to Ericsson within four weeks, ANI reported.
A bench of Justices RF Nariman and Vineet Saran had on 13 February reserved its judgement when Ericsson India had alleged that the Reliance Group has money to invest in the Rafale jet deal but they were unable to clear its Rs 550-crore dues, a charge which was vehemently denied by the Anil Ambani-led company.
Ambani told the top court that with the failure of its assets sale deal with elder brother Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Jio his company has entered insolvency proceedings and is not in control of the funds.
Reliance Communications (RCom) had told the court they had tried to move “heaven and earth” to ensure Ericsson gets its due but was unable to do so due to failure of assets sale deal with Jio.
The contempt plea has been filed against Ambani, Reliance Telecom chairman Satish Seth, Reliance Infratel chairperson Chhaya Virani and SBI chairman.
The court on 23 October 2018 had asked RCom to clear the dues by 15 December 2018, saying delayed payment would attract an interest of 12 per cent per annum.
The plea by Ericsson had sought that the court direct Ambani and the lenders forum to hand over the Rs 550 crore with interest from sale proceeds as per the October 23 order.
(With PTI inputs)