Mumbai, July 30: In a no-holds-barred attack, Anil Ambani today landed an emotional punch on elder brother Mukesh, saying he no longer sees a role for their mother Kokilaben in resolving their gas dispute and has traded their father Dhirubhai’s “vision” for “corporate greed”.
Asserting that he had made sincere efforts at every stage to amicably resolve all issues, but without success, Anil told the Press Trust of India that “unfortunately, in the pursuit of corporate greed, RIL [Reliance Industries Limited] has even forgotten the vision of the founder chairman [the late Dhirubhai Ambani]!”
Expressing anguish at Mukesh’s disregard for elders in the family, he said: “My respected elder brother has already made it amply clear both within the family and externally that he does not visualise any further role for my respected mother in resolving this [gas supply dispute] or any other matter.”
It was Kokilaben who oversaw the division of the Reliance empire in 2005, two years after the differences between the two brothers became public.
Asked if he could consider an alternative to a legal dispute or an out-of-court settlement, Anil said: “I have at every stage made sincere efforts to amicably resolve all issues, but to no avail…
“Last month we addressed several letters to RIL to meet and arrive at a workable agreement after the Bombay High Court judgment. RIL refused to cooperate… thereafter they unilaterally decided to proceed to the Supreme Court.”
The high court had on June 15 directed RIL to supply gas to RNRL [Reliance Natural Resources Limited] at US $2.34 per mmBtu after mutually working out the modalities. The high court had also suggested that the brothers go back to their mother if they couldn’t thrash out an agreement on their own.
Anil, whose group firm RNRL is approaching the Supreme Court tomorrow with a prayer for taking up final hearing of the gas dispute on September 1, said: “Let us await the verdict of the Supreme Court before thinking of the future for RNRL.”
Lambasting the Union petroleum ministry for its diametrically opposite stand in Parliament on gas pricing, Anil questioned the sanctity of any contract if the ministry was aiming to rewrite the production-sharing contract after 10 years.
He wondered: “Will this not set a precedent, allowing any ministry to alter any contract in the future at will, placing investments of billions of dollars at risk?”
Vowing “to do everything in our power to protect the interests of our shareholders”, Anil said the supply of gas by RIL to the Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group at pre-agreed terms, including the price, US $2.34 per mmBtu, was an integral part of the corporate restructuring of the group.
“This was all done keeping in mind the vision of our legendary founder, the late Dhirubhai Ambani, who visualised Reliance being present in the entire value chain — from well-head to wall-socket.
“Unfortunately, in its pursuit of corporate greed, RIL has even forgotten the vision of the founder chairman.”
He said: “It just makes you wonder why the petroleum ministry is pushing so hard for a higher gas price, when 99% gains would go to RIL… in other words, of the initial revenue of Rs50,000 crore, RIL gets almost all, that is Rs49,500 crore vs the government’s Rs 500 crore only.”
A gas price of US $4.2 per mmBtu was exorbitant and could in no way be justified, he said.
–PTI