Shivinder Vs Malvinder - An Ugly Fraternal Fight As Shivinder Drags Malvinder To NCLT

Business Standard reports that Shivinder Singh, the former Fortis Healthcare promoter, is moving to the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT), accusing his elder brother, Malvinder Singh, of “oppression” and mismanagement of RHC Holding, Religare and Fortis.

Shivinder, who has now snapped all his business relationship with his sibling Malvinder, also accused the former Chief of Financial Services firm Religare Enterprises Sunil Godhwani of wrongdoing. Godhwani was heading group's financial services arm Religare Enterprises as MD and CEO and also in charge of the group's holding company, RHC Holding.

"The collective, ongoing, actions of Malvinder and Sunil Godhwani led to a systematic undermining of the interests of the companies and their shareholders," Shivinder said in a statement.

Shivinder also said that that he has thus far maintained a dignified silence to keep his family’s business reputation, “My family reputation kept me a silent spectator, as I mutely watched the organisation I founded come to a point where it was publicly auctioned; where my family and myself have been stripped of our legacy, our finances and my personal credibility.”

Interestingly in a joint statement released last month, the brothers had sought to put the blame squarely on Godhwani for the group’s troubles. “The Group’s troubles today stem from the Group’s association with Sunil Godhwani who had started his association in Religare as its CEO in 2001,” Singh brothers had alleged.

Singh brothers have lost control over both their key businesses - Fortis and Religare.

The board of Fortis, which is currently operating about 30 private hospitals in India, accepted an investment offer from Malaysia's IHH Healthcare Berhard in July.

The brothers are involved in a protracted legal battle with Japanese pharmaceuticals major Daichii Sankyo, which is trying to enforce Rs 3500 crore arbitration award it got from a tribunal in Singapore.

The brothers had sold their majority stake in drugmaker Ranbaxy Laboratories to Japan's Daiichi Sankyo in 2008. The brothers are also under investigations by SEBI into financial irregularities in their companies.