New Delhi, September 22 (Agency)
The Supreme Court has sentenced Malvinder Singh and Shivinder Singh, former promoters of Fortis Healthcare Ltd, to six months each in a case related to the sale of shares to Malaysia-based IHH Healthcare. A bench headed by Chief Justice Uday Umesh Lalit pronounced the sentence in the contempt case.
The top court also ordered forensic audit of the sale of shares of Fortis Healthcare Ltd. The Chief Justice said that now its responsibility is entrusted to the court executing the order.
Former promoters of Fortis Healthcare Ltd are also embroiled in a court battle with Daiichi Sankyo, a Japanese company. The Japanese company had won an arbitration amount of Rs 3,600 crore against the Singh brothers in the Singapore tribunal and has challenged the Fortis-IHH share deal to get the same. The IHH-Fortis deal is stalled due to a court battle between Daiichi and the Singh brothers.
It is noteworthy that in 2018, Daiichi reached the court after some Indians sold their shares of Fortis Healthcare to Malaysian company IHH. The Japanese company alleges that former Fortis promoters had assured it that their shares in the Indian hospital chain would pay the arbitration amount as decided by the tribunal. Fortis Healthcare said in a statement, “We understand that the hearing before the Supreme Court has been concluded with certain directions and the contempt proceedings initiated with suo motu cognizance have come to an end. We will follow the directions of the Supreme Court and seek legal advice on the future course of action. “We remain committed to our core goal of patient care and will continue to focus on strategic and operational goals to further strengthen our healthcare network,” Fortis said in a statement. We inform shareholders
Will keep doing it.’
