India’s Supreme Court on Wednesday found billionaire businessman and Reliance Communications (RCom) chairman Anil Ambani and two others guilty of contempt of court for not honoring an undertaking given to the court promising to pay dues to Ericsson India.

Ericsson entered into a managed service agreement with RCom in January 2013 under which it was to provide managed services and management of RCom’s network. The deal was terminated in September 2017, and the resulting dispute reached the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT), where the two sides struck a deal to settle their dues.

RCom had given undertakings in pursuance of orders by the NCLAT, and later to the Supreme Court that three RCom group companies would cumulatively pay 5.5 billion Indian rupees to Ericsson in the agreed settlement of dues between them.

While RCom had contended that the undertaking to pay was subject to the sale of its assets, Ericsson claimed that there was no rider to that effect in the undertaking. The Supreme Court found that there was no caveat to pay upon the sale of assets in undertakings given pursuant to the NCLAT order in June 2018, but such a clause was inserted in undertakings given to the Supreme Court in August 2018.

The apex court held that the undertakings given to it “are contrary to the undertakings given by the authorized persons of these very companies pursuant to the NCLAT order.” The judgment deduced from this that the RCom companies had no intention of abiding by their commitment to pay the necessary sum of money within the time stated.

The court ruled that the companies’ undertakings affirming that the money will be paid “only out of the sale of assets” was false to their knowledge and that this “affects the administration of justice, and is therefore, contempt of court.”

Judges Rohinton Nariman and Vineet Saran also took serious note of inaccurate statements made in a reply affidavit filed before the court by the RCom chairman, who had claimed that RCom did not receive any advantage on account of the dubious undertakings made. The bench said, “It is clear that this reply affidavit demonstrates the cavalier attitude of the deponent of this affidavit to the highest court of the land.”

Apart from RCom chairman Anil Ambani, Satish Seth and Chhaya Virani, the chairpersons of Reliance Telecom and Reliance Infratel, respectively, have also been held guilty of contempt of court. The court has directed them to pay 4.53 billion Indian rupees to Ericsson within a month, failing which they would have to face imprisonment of 3 months.