Mukesh has forgotten Dhirubhai, says Anil Ambani

In a no-holds-barred attack, Anil Ambani has accused his elder brother, Mukesh, of trading their father Dhirubhai's vision for 'corporate greed'.

He 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, Reliance Industries 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 Ambani 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 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 $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 (Reliance Natural Resources Ltd) is approaching Supreme Court 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."

No comments could be obtained immediately from RIL.

Lambasting the Union 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 that the supply of gas by RIL to Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group at pre-agreed terms, including the price ($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 (Rs 500 billion), RIL gets almost all, that is Rs 49,500 crore (Rs 495  billion) versus the government's Rs 500 crore (Rs 5 billion) only."

Gas price of $4.2 per mmBtu was exorbitant and could in no way be justified, Anil Ambani said.

He 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 $1.50 per mmBtu.