Malvinder Singh and Shivinder Singh were sent to jail for six months in Daiichi-Fortis case by Supreme Court on Thursday. The top court also ordered forensic audit of the Fortis-IHH deal, Business Standard reported.
Malaysia's IHH Healthcare had, in 2018, acquired a 31 per cent controlling stake in Fortis by paying $1.1 billion in a bidding process overseen by an independent board. This triggered an open offer to acquire another 26 per cent of Fortis shares from the market. The open offer was not pursued as Daiichi had filed a plea against it.
Daiichi had challenged the Fortis-IHH deal to recover the Rs 3,600 crore arbitration award it had won in a Singapore tribunal against Fortis' former promoters Malvinder and Shivinder.
Singh brothers were accused of hiding information regarding wrongdoing at Ranbaxy when they sold a majority stake in the company to the Japanese firm Daiichi Sankyo in 2008. The Singapore tribunal had in 2016 awarded Daiichi Rs 3,600 crore in damages.
Daiichi alleged that both parties had pledged 1.7 million shares of Fortis Healthcare, which were held by Fortis Healthcare Holding, despite the top court forbidding it.
The deal between Fortis and IHH was signed in August 2018. In December 2018, the Supreme Court stayed the IIH open offer.
When the Singh brothers were selling Ranbaxy, the company faced an investigation by the US Food and Drug Administration and the US Department of Justice. The Singapore Arbitration tribunal had found the brothers guilty of making false claims in a self-assessment report and of fraudulently misrepresenting and hiding the probe by the US authorities into Ranbaxy when Daiichi bought their 34.82 per cent stake for $2.4 billion in 2008.
