The 52-year-old billionaire is the highest-profile company executive to be drawn into the investigation of whether lucrative radio spectrum and mobile phone licenses were sold at below-market prices in return for kickbacks.
The scandal is the biggest of several corruption cases to emerge in Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s second term. It has damaged the government’s credibility and thrown into the spotlight the behavior of leading industrialists and politicians.
A lawyer for the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) told the Supreme Court that Ambani himself was now under investigation, after he was questioned earlier this year by police.
A CBI spokeswoman said she could not confirm the investigation of Ambani, who controls No. 2 mobile carrier Reliance Communications as part of his Reliance ADA conglomerate.
Three of his executives are already in jail awaiting trial, accused of conspiring to set up a front company to gain valuable radio spectrum during the sale, which a state auditor said cost the government up to $39 billion in lost revenues.
