New Delhi, February 20: The Supreme Court on Wednesday held industrialist Anil Ambani guilty while pronouncing the verdict in the contempt petitions filed by Swedish telecom equipment producer Ericsson against the Reliance Group. The bench headed by Justices RF Nariman and Vineet Saran have order Ambani to pay Rs 453 crore or Ericsson in addition to Rs 118 crore living with the court.

Along with Ambani, Reliance Telecom chairman Satish Seth, Reliance Infratel chairperson Chhaya Virani have also been convicted. The trio will be sent to jail for a three-month term if they fail to clear the dues of Ericsson within a four-week period. After Bankruptcy Announcement, Anil Ambani's Rcom Shares Plunges 48%.

The bench has also imposed a fine of Rs 1 crore on each of them, for not complying with the apex court's eartwhile order directing them to pay the outstanding amount to Ericsson.

On February 13, the bench of Justices Nariman and Saran on February 13 reserved its judgement when Ericsson India had alleged that the Reliance Group has money to invest in the Rafale jet deal but they were unable to clear its Rs 550-crore dues, a charge which was vehemently denied by the Anil Ambani-led company.

Ambani told the top court that with the failure of its assets sale deal with elder brother Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Jio his company has entered insolvency proceedings and is not in control of the funds.

Reliance Communications (RCom) had told the court they had tried to move "heaven and earth" to ensure Ericsson gets its due but was unable to do so due to failure of assets sale deal with Jio.

The contempt plea has been filed against Ambani, Reliance Telecom chairman Satish Seth, Reliance Infratel chairperson Chhaya Virani and SBI chairman

The court on October 23 asked RCom to clear the dues by December 15, 2018, saying delayed payment would attract an interest of 12 per cent per annum.

The plea by Ericsson had sought that the court direct Ambani and the lenders forum to hand over the Rs 550 crore with interest from sale proceeds as per the October 23 order.

(With PTI inputs)

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Feb 20, 2019 11:23 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).