A court in Delhi on Tuesday issued production warrants for former Ranbaxy promoters Malvinder Singh and Shivinder Singh for settlement talks on Wednesday, PTI reported. The former Ranbaxy promoters are currently in judicial custody in a Rs 740 crore fraud case.
Malvinder and Shivinder Singh, along with three others, are accused of cheating and diverting funds of Religare Finvest Limited. They were arrested by the Economic Offences Wing of the Delhi Police earlier this month.
On Tuesday, Shivinder Singh’s lawyer told the court that the settlement should not be seen as giving money. He said that the Economic Offences Wing of the Delhi Police was not a party to the settlement.
The Singh brothers had on Friday sought interim bail from the court, saying that they wanted to settle the case with the complainant. The complainant, Religare Finvest Limited’s Manpreet Singh Suri, said he wanted the settlement proposal in writing.
The Economic Offences Wing had told the court on Friday that the Singh brothers said they had siphoned off an amount of around Rs 1,000 crore. The investigating officer of the Economic Offences Wing, in the remand application, sought custodial interrogation of the accused, saying it was required to identify the persons to whom the alleged siphoned off money was transferred.
In March, the Economic Offences Wing had registered a first information report against the Singh brothers and three others after Religare Finvest alleged that loans were taken by them while managing the firm but the money was invested in other companies.
The case
In December 2018, Religare Finvest filed a criminal complaint with the Economic Offences Wing of the Delhi Police against the Singh brothers. A case was filed against the brothers in May.
The Singh brothers were heirs to Ranbaxy Laboratories, which was founded by their father. They sold it to Japanese firm Daiichi Sankyo in 2008 and focused on the family-owned Fortis Healthcare. However, Daiichi Sankyo is now seeking to recover Rs 3,500 crore from the brothers, after a Singaporean tribunal found them guilty of luring the Japanese drug maker to purchase Ranbaxy in 2008 by withholding information. Sun Pharmaceuticals eventually purchased Ranbaxy from Daiichi Sankyo for $3.2 billion.
In February 2018, Malvinder and Shivinder Singh resigned as directors from the board of Fortis Healthcare after the Delhi High Court order upheld the Rs 3,500 crore arbitral award in favour of Daiichi Sankyo.
In September 2018, Shivinder Singh moved the National Company Law Tribunal against Malvinder Singh, accusing him of oppression and mismanagement. In December 2018, Malvinder Singh accused his brother of physical assault.
In March, the Supreme Court had asked the brothers to inform it of how they plan to comply with the order passed by the Singapore tribunal. One of the brothers told the court that his assets could be sold and that he is yet to receive dues of Rs 6,300 crore.
In April, the top court warned the brothers that they would be jailed if found guilty of contempt.
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