Ericsson moves Supreme Court to detain Anil Ambani, prevent RCom chief from leaving India

New Delhi: Swedish telecom equipment company Ericsson has again petitioned the Supreme Court to prevent Reliance Communications’ (RCom) chairman Anil Ambani leaving the country and be detained in civil prison unless he ensures to repay dues of Rs 550 crore owed to the company, says an Economic Times report.

The financial daily also mentioned that the Anil Ambani-controlled telecom operator has filed a contempt proceeding in the apex court against the department of telecommunications (DoT), alleging it for delaying a spectrum sale that would have helped the company to clear dues to Ericsson and lenders.

It may be noted that Anil Ambani had given a personal guarantee in the court, backing a timely payment to Ericsson, the report mentioned. The apex court will hear both the petitions on Monday.

Anil Kher, senior advocate, representing Ericsson told ET: “The fresh application was filed because RCom and others did not comply with SC order. We have been waiting for payments for a long time and their default is contempt of court. “Under contempt of court act, if found guilty, this could lead to civil imprisonment, which means jail up to six months.”

The report mentioned that RCom was banking on the sale its wireless spectrum to Reliance Jio, and use the money to pay Ericsson Rs 550 crore plus interest, besides other creditors. In December 2018, the telecom department rejected RCom’s spectrum deal with Jio, saying it cannot enforce the court order for clearing the deal, as the buyer is reluctant to accept the obligation for Anil Ambani-run RCom’s dues.

This is the second time that RCom has missed paying Ericsson. The Supreme Court had given RCom time till December 15 to clear the pending payment towards Ericsson and said that delayed payment would attract an interest of 12 per cent per annu