NEW DELHI: The irregularities in the functioning of Fortis Healthcare took shape of a family feud late on Tuesday, when Shivinder Singh, former promoter of the healthcare chain, moved National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) against his elder brother Malvinder Singh and former Religare head Sunil Godhwani over alleged mismanagement.
In a statement, Shivinder said the move was long overdue, but got delayed in the hope that “better sense shall eventually prevail and another ugly chapter of family feud would not be written in our family business’ glorious history.”
Blaming his brother and Godhwani, Shivinder said that the duo’s action led to a systematic undermining of the interests of the companies and their shareholders. Shivinder said he is now disassociating from his brother as a business partner and will be pursuing an independent path in future.
The younger of the Singh brothers further stated that while retiring to his spiritual home Beas to “serve his master” in 2015, he had left the thriving company he founded in “trusted” hands and in a period of less than two years, it moved towards disintegration and ruin of a national healthcare asset. While the group businesses were in “Competent” hands, red flags had crept up in the group with disturbing regularity, he added.
“Decisions taken in Religare’s NBFC arm; the transaction and subsequent management of the sale of the group’s then flagship - Ranbaxy to Daiichi, culminating in one of the most damaging Arbitration cases in the history of India Inc., the huge losses accumulated in running a private charter airline business (Ligare aviation), go to show that the malaise was systemic (sic),” Shivinder said.
Malvinder Singh, however, is yet to give his version of the story. The two brothers have been allegedly accused of siphoning money from the group company without the Board’s approval, apart from other systemic lapses.