The Supreme Court led by Chief Justice of India (CJI) Ranjan Gogoi on April 5 has agreed to hear the contempt petition against former Ranbaxy promoters Malvinder Mohan Singh and his brother Shivinder Mohan Singh on April 11. The apex court further warned that it will send both of them to jail for disobeying orders against paying dues to Japanese firm Daiichi Sankyo, reported Business Today.
The court to both the ex-owner of pharma company said, “We will go into the issue- why you violated our orders. We will send you to jail. We have given you a chance but you are unable to pay.”
The brothers and 12 others were restrained earlier by the court from selling or transferring their shares or any movable or immovable property. The SC on March 14 had asked both the brothers to submit a concrete plan for paying Rs 3,500 crore to Daiichi Sankyo as directed by a Singapore tribunal. The top court now will directly listen to the contempt petition against them.
The bench comprising of Justices Deepak Gupta and Sanjiv Khanna further asked the brothers about their plans to repay the amount. To this brothers said that they are sceptical about the value of the operating companies as they would only fetch around Rs 900 crore if liquidated. Malvinder has further asked the SC if they can take control over the group, and promised to increase the company’s worth from 900 crores to Rs 2,000 crore in two-three years.
What happened?
The brothers had earlier lost an appeal filed before a Singapore court in Daiichi Sankyo arbitration case in December 2018 where they had argued against the US$500 million (Rs 3,500 crore) arbitration award against them. The Singapore court dismissed the plea to stay a Singapore tribunal arbitration award in favour of Japanese pharmaceutical major and reserved its verdict. Daiichi had bought Ranbaxy in 2008. In 2016, the Singapore International Arbitration Centre had ordered the brothers to pay US $500 million for hiding information about alleged suppression of facts at Ranbaxy Laboratories when it was facing a probe by the US Food and Drug Administration and the Department of Justice.
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