New Delhi: Anil Ambani’s legal tussle with Swedish firm Ericsson worsened on Wednesday after the Supreme Court held the Indian businessman guilty of contempt and ordered Reliance Communications and two other companies to cough up Rs 453 crore within a month or risk facing jail time.Ericsson’s attempts at recovering unpaid dues from RCom – for providing managed services to support the telecom firm’s nationwide network for a period of seven years – has been a winding process over the last 18 months.How did the problem start?The trouble for the younger Ambani brother began in September 2017 when the Swedish company moved India’s bankruptcy courts, seeking insolvency proceedings against RCom and two of its units (Reliance Telecom and Reliance Infratel) in order to recover dues of Rs 1,150 crore.Ericsson’s bankruptcy plea came at a particularly bad time for RCom: at the point it was in the middle of a handful of crucial asset sale deals that it hoped would reduce its total debt which was at whopping Rs 35,000 crore. If the telecom firm went into insolvency, it wouldn’t be able to conclude those deals.In fact, a majority of RCom’s lenders, led by State Bank of India, opposed Ericsson’s move in April 2018, saying that if the company was able to finish the sale of assets (primarily to Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Jio), it could bring Rs 18,000 crore into the company.Also read: SC Holds Anil Ambani Guilty of Contempt, Orders RCom to Pay EricssonHow did it get worse?At that point, the Swedish firm appeared to have second thoughts: In May 2018, RCom put out a statement that noted it was in “advanced talks” with Ericsson to settle the unpaid dues matter which would save it from entering bankruptcy proceedings.As part of this out-of-court deal, it appears Ericsson agreed to settle for being paid less (roughly Rs 550 crore) even though it claimed by that time its total dues were over Rs 1,500 crore. The Supreme Court approved the terms of the settlement deal and asked RCom to pay Ericsson the money by September 2018.The problem intensified when the telecommunications firm simply didn’t follow through on its payment obligations. In October 2018, Ericsson moved the apex court with its first contempt petition, arguing that it had not received the Rs 550 crore that it was owed. The Supreme Court then gave RCom another three months, and said the Anil Ambani-led firm had to pay by December 15, 2018.As the year ended, and with Ericsson ostensibly still not having received its dues, it filed a second contempt plea in January 2019, which led to today’s judgement (February 20), holding Ambani and two other company directors in contempt.Where will the money come from?This is the Rs 550 crore question. If RCom doesn’t find the money in four weeks, Ambani could face a potential prison sentence.Out of Rs 550 crore, the company has already deposited Rs 131 crore (net of tax. Rs 118 crore) with the Supreme Court registry.Ericsson’s counsel, senior advocate Anil Kher, has indicated that RCom has two income tax refunds coming its way, money that could be used to pay the Swedish firm. The first refund it has gotten is Rs 129 crore, while there is also another forthcoming refund of Rs 134 crore.Also read: Supreme Court Employees Sacked for Tampering With Order Summoning Anil AmbaniThis makes a total of Rs 394 crore (118 + 129 + 134). This still leaves a gap of Rs 177 crore — leaving aside the question for the moment on whether RCom will have to pay Rs 550 crore plus interest.RCom could be looking at money from its incoming real estate deals: for instance, in May 2018 it was reported that asset management company Brookfield would buy the company’s real estate assets in New Delhi and Chennai for Rs 800 crore.Other options include monetisation of other real estate assets like Dhirubhai Ambani Knowledge City or even tapping into the cash reserves of its subsidiary GCX.However, market analysts point out that all of these options will take time to finish and conclude, one commodity that RCom no longer has with today’s Supreme Court judgement.