Singh brothers say not going anywhere, will cooperate

NEW DELHI: Under pressure, billionaire Singh Brothers — Malvinder and Shivinder, on Thursday said they were “not going anywhere”, as they face payment of ₹3,500 crore arbitration award to Daiichi Sankyo and a probe into alleged financial irregularities at Fortis Healthcare and Religare Enterprises.

The brothers, who had quit from the boards of Fortis and Religare earlier this month, said that “given the circumstances and immense challenges facing us today, we assure all our stakeholders that we are doing whatever it takes to resolve the issues and will not shy away from our current responsibilities”.

In a joint statement, they said: “We assure that we are NOT going anywhere and are addressing the issues with responsibility and sincerity. We will not shy away from any and all processes, questions, clarifications that need to be addressed; and we will provide all cooperation to ensure that the truth comes forth.”

The statement comes at a time when there is big furore in the country over the ₹11,400 crore PNB scam involving billionaire jewellery merchants Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi, who have fled the country. The Delhi High Court had on January 31 upheld an international arbitral award of ₹3,500 crore passed in favour of Japanese pharma major Daiichi Sankyo, which had alleged that the former promoters of erstwhile Ranbaxy Laboratories had concealed information about proceedings against them by American food and drug department. Credit rating agencies ICRA and CARE have also downgraded ratings on Fortis Healthcare.