VIJAYAWADA: IN a significant development, Deloitte, the firm representing Subhash Chandra Foundation of Essel-Zee group, informed the Hyderabad High Court on Monday that it might not be ready to take over the scam-hit Agri Gold group of companies but was ready to take over the properties of the companies, and sought three months’ time to complete the due diligence exercise on the assets of Agri Gold.
Senior counsel Sri Raghuram, appearing for the firm, made this submission before a division bench of justices V Ramasubramanian and S V Bhatt which was dealing with a batch of petitions filed by Telangana Agri Gold Customers and Agents Welfare Association and others seeking a CBI probe into the Agri Gold scam and return of the depositors’ monies.
On an earlier occasion, the senior counsel had told the bench that the Foundation was interested in taking over the assets and liabilities of Agri Gold after conducting due diligence, and that the Foundation had the capacity and willingness to take over all the 175-odd companies of the Agri Gold group even by paying thousands of crores of rupees. With the court’s permission it went ahead with the due diligence exercise for the purpose.
When the matter came up for hearing on Monday, the senior counsel made the above submission, saying that there were problems in taking over the companies. Besides, he sought permission for giving notifications in newspapers as most of the properties were under mortgage. Petitioner’s counsel NS Arjun Kumar told the court that the Agri Gold scam was mentioned in Paradise Papers. The bench said that it would examine this issue later on. While adjourning the case to December 12, the bench directed AP and Telangana governments and the petitioners to file their counter affidavits on the latest stand of Subhash Chandra Foundation.