Anil Ambani tells UK court his ‘net worth is zero’ despite fleet of cars, private jet and yacht

LONDON: Former billionaire Anil Ambani, once the sixth richest man in the world, declared to a UK court on Friday his “net worth was zero” and that he was bankrupt.

Three Chinese banks — Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Ltd (ICBC), China Development Bank and the Export-Import Bank of China — are suing Ambani in the high court here for more than $700 million (over Rs 5,000 crore) , including interest, for defaulting on a loan they gave Reliance Communications (RCom) — now in insolvency proceedings — in February 2012, which RCom defaulted on. The banks claim Ambani provided a personal guarantee for the loan, but Ambani disputes this.

Ambani narrowly avoided a summary judgment against him in December 2019 when Justice Waksman said his evidence was “inexplicably incomplete, implausible and highly unlikely”.

At Friday’s hearing, at which Ambani’s son Anmol was present, the banks asked the court to make a conditional order requiring him to pay into court $656 million (about Rs 4,690 crore) ahead of the trial. But the judge decided that he must pay $100 million (Rs 715 crore) into court.

Justice Waksman heavily criticised Ambani’s statements, saying they were packed with “falsehoods” and that Ambani had “clearly lied”. He said Ambani had put a misleading spin on his brother’s role in bailing him out last year and also spoke of “irregular corporate activities” within the Reliance group.

“He clearly has more assets or income than he is letting on. The fam