Ericsson Asks SC to Detain Anil Ambani Over Non-Payment of Dues

Ericsson also said in its petition that Ambani should not be allowed leave India.

File image of Anil Ambani. 

(Photo: Reuters)

Ericsson, a Swedish telecom equipment maker, on Thursday, 3 January, filed a petition in the Supreme Court against Reliance Communications' Chairman Anil Ambani urging that he should be detained in civil prison until he makes the payment of Rs 550 crore that the latter owes to the company.

The Swedish company also said in its petition, which was reviewed by The Economic Times, that Ambani should not be allowed to leave India.

According to ET, senior advocate Anil Kher who is representing Ericsson, said a fresh application was filed because RCom did not comply with the SC order.

“We have been waiting for payments for a long time and their default is contempt of court.”

Anil Kher

RCom had missed the second deadline to pay the dues with interest to Ericsson. The first deadline was 30 September 2018, after which the Swedish company filed a contempt petition against Ambani in October, 2018. The court had set a new deadline at that time – 15 December 2018.

According to ET, Ericsson also asked the court to "allow insolvency resolution proceedings under and in accordance with the order and proceedings of the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT)."

RCom Files Separate Petition Against DoT

In a separate petition filed by RCom, the company had initiated contempt proceedings in the Supreme Court against Department of Telecommunications (DoT). RCom, in its petition, blamed the department for delaying the sale of spectrum that would have helped the former to make the payments of the dues to Ericsson and lenders.

RCom said that DoT did not grant a no-objection certificate for its spectrum sale to Reliance Jio Infocomm. It said that the sale of spectrum would have helped the former to make the payments of the dues to Ericsson and lenders.

The department has “scant regard” for the order of the apex court, RCom Said in its petition.

As per the government, the approval was delayed because Jio refused to be held responsible for RCom's past dues. RCom countered this statement by saying that DoT had "mischievously raised a controversy" by involving Jio to make payments of its dues.

(With inputs from The Economics Times)