Anil Ambani, once the sixth richest man in the world, has told a UK court that his ‘net worth is zero’ and is ‘bankrupt’. Anil Ambani is the brother of Mukesh Ambani – the richest man in India and one of the richest in the world.
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According to the news in the Times of India, three Chinese banks have taken Anil Ambani’s company to the British High Court to recover more than $ 700 million. This amount also includes the interest on the loan.
The lawsuit was filed by three state-controlled Chinese banks, which argue that they provided a loan of $925 million to Ambani’s Reliance Communications Ltd. in 2012 with the condition that he personally guarantee the debt. Ambani’s comments were disclosed as he tried to avoid depositing hundreds of millions of dollars with the court ahead of a trial.
On Friday evening, Judge David Waksman ordered Ambani to deposit $100 million into the court’s account within six weeks. Ambani plans to appeal. The now-bankrupt business magnate said that while he agreed to give a non-binding “personal comfort letter,” he never gave a guarantee tied to his personal assets — an “extraordinary potential personal liability.”
Anil has “clearly got more assets and income than he’s letting on,” the judge said. “What I’m dealing with is an extraordinarily wealthy family who have helped each other in the past.” Waksman said he didn’t believe that Ambani’s family “have firmly and irrevocably brought the shutters down.”
Ambani’s lawyer, Robert Howe, had argued that the court shouldn’t order Ambani to make a payment he can’t cover. The tycoon argues that an order requiring him to do so would impede his ability to defend himself in the case, Howe said.
