Following years of a feud, Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani bailed out his brother and Chairman of Reliance Communications Anil Ambani by helping him pay the RCOM’s outstanding dues to Swedish telecom giant Ericsson and avoiding a jail term.
“The requisite payment of Rs 550 crore and interest thereon to Ericsson has been completed today in compliance of the judgment of the Supreme Court,” an RCOM spokesperson said.
Anil Ambani thanked Mukesh Ambani and Nita Ambani for their support regarding payment of dues to Ericsson as all the RCOM's outstanding to the Swedish company have been cleared.
"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.
“I and my family are grateful we have moved beyond the past, and are deeply grateful and touched with this gesture,” he added.
Ericsson AB filed three contempt petitions against RCom and Anil Ambani for failing to clear Rs 550 crore of dues. Last month, the Supreme Court had held Anil Ambani and two directors – Reliance Telecom Chairman Satish Seth and Reliance Infratel Chairperson Chhaya Virani – guilty of contempt for not paying its dues. It then ordered Anil Ambani and the two directors to pay a sum of Rs 453 crore to Ericsson within four weeks. If they failed to do so, they would have to serve a jail term of three months. Mukesh bailed out Anil just two days before the one-month deadline.
Mukesh and Anil had been at loggerheads after their father, Dhirubhai Ambani, died in 2002 without a will. Though Anil and Mukesh split the businesses amongst themselves, the dispute and discord between the two remained. Anil took over the power and telecom business, while Mukesh took control of the oil and petrochemical businesses. Following this ordeal, a nearly decade and a half long bitter battle ensued between the two.
However, RCom has terminated its asset sale with Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Jio. RCom said that the reason for this was the telecom department not granting requisite approvals and lenders not granting consents for proposed transactions. RCom, in August 2018, agreed to sell 122.4 Mhz of spectrum and 43,000 telecom towers to Reliance Jio in a bid to pare debt of Rs 46,000 crore.
(With IANS inputs)