Mukesh Ambani helps brother Anil pay Ericsson dues and avoid jail term
The Anil Ambani-led Reliance Communications said it had made a payment of Rs 550 crore and interest thereon to Ericsson.
Reliance Communications Limited has paid Rs 550 crore to Swedish multinational telecom and networking firm Ericsson a day before the Supreme Court’s deadline, the Anil Ambani-led company said in a statement.
Anil Ambani thanked his brother Mukesh Ambani and his wife Nita for helping him repay the dues, PTI reported. “My sincere and heartfelt thanks to my respected elder brother, Mukesh and Nita, for standing by me during these trying times, and demonstrating the importance of staying true to our strong family values by extending this timely support,” Anil Ambani said in a statement. “I and my family are grateful we have moved beyond the past, and are deeply touched with this gesture.”
The statement said the firm had made a payment of Rs 550 crore, including interest, to Ericsson.
In February, the Supreme Court had held Ambani and two directors in contempt of court on a petition filed by Ericsson. Justices Rohinton Nariman and Vineet Saran held that three Reliance companies had had no intention of paying the money they owed Ericsson. They also rejected Reliance Communications’ unconditional apology.
The court had set March 19 as the last date to make the payment and had threatened to send the accused to jail if the money was not paid.
In 2017, the Swedish company moved a bankruptcy court against Reliance, alleging it had not been paid dues of around Rs 1,500 crore, The Economic Times reported. After the case reached the Supreme Court, Reliance Communications was given two deadlines to repay dues, but the company missed both.
Reliance Communications had announced on February 1 that it would file for bankruptcy through the National Company Law Tribunal after failing to sell assets to pay debt of around Rs 45,000 crore. The company had planned to sell spectrum to Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Jio, but it did not materialise. It had hoped to sell its assets to Jio and some other firms in a bid to pare its debt.