The Supreme Court on Wednesday held Reliance group chairman Anil Ambani guilty of contempt of court in a case filed by telecom giant Ericsson. The court has ordered Ambani to clear dues to Ericsson within four weeks.
The top court held that the Ambani, Reliance Telecom chairman Satish Seth and Reliance Infratel chairperson Chhaya Virani breached the undertaking given to the apex court and the related orders. The apex court said the RCom chairman and others will have to purge the contempt by paying Rs 453 crore to Ericsson in 4 weeks.
A bench comprising of Justices R.F. Nariman and Vineet Saran said if the contemnor failed to make the payments within the specified period, they they will undergo a jail term of three months.
The apex court also directed Reliance Telecom and Reliance Infratel to pay Rs 1 crore each in four weeks to the apex court's registry or the chairman will have to go additional jail term of one month.
It directed that Rs 118 crore already deposited by Reliance Group in the apex court's registry be disbursed to Ericsson.
"From the undertakings given by Reliance Group's top brass, it appears they have wilfully not paid the amount to Ericsson despite orders," it said.
The apex court specified that any unconditional apology given by Reliance needs to be rejected as they have breached the undertaking and order.
On February 13, a bench had reserved its judgment when Ericsson India had alleged that the Reliance Group had 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 October 23 asked RCom to clear the dues by December 15, 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.
