Mukesh forgotten Dhirubhai; sees no role for Kokilaben: Anil

New Delhi, July 30 (PTI) In a no-holds-barred attack,
Anil Ambani has accused elder brother of trading their father
Dhirubhai's vision for "corporate greed", and said Mukesh no
longer saw a role for their mother Kokilaben in resolving the
gas dispute.

Asserting that he had made sincere efforts at every stage
to amicably resolve all issues, but without success, Anil told
PTI that "unfortunately, in the pursuit of corporate greed,
RIL has even forgotten the vision of the founder chairman
(late Dhirubhai Ambani)!"

However, Mukesh refused to be drawn into a public quarrel
with his younger brother Anil. "We do not wish to comment on
baseless, malicious and wrong accusations," said a
spokesperson for Mukesh Ambani, when asked about Anil's
statement that his elder brother did not visualise any role
for mother Kokilaben in settling disputes.

Expressing anguish over Mukesh's disregard to 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
wo brothers became public.

Asked if he could consider an alternative to 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
judgement, 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 at USD 2.34 per mmBtu after mutually working out the
modalities. The High Court had also suggested that they go
back to their mother if they couldn't thrash out an agreement
on their own.

Anil, whose group firm RNRL is approaching Supreme Court
Friday with a prayer for taking up final hearing of the gas
dispute on September one, said: "Let us await the verdict of
the Supreme Court before thinking of the future for RNRL.

No comments could be obtained immediately from RIL. (MORE)

Lambasting Oil 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 supply of gas by RIL
to ADAG at pre-agreed terms including the price (USD 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, 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."

Anil said: "It just makes you wonder why the Petroleum
Ministry is pushing so hard for higher gas price, when 99 per
cent gains would go to RIL ... in other words, of the initial
revenue of Rs 50,000 crore, RIL gets almost all, that is Rs
49,500 crore vs the government's Rs 500 crore only."

A gas price of USD 4.2 per mmBtu was exorbitant and could
in no way be justified, he said and added that going by the
prospects of gas, which would be in abundance in the near
future, it would be against public interest to price gas in
India for any user above USD 1.50 per mmBtu. PTI