MUMBAI/DUBAI: Indian entrepreneur BR Shetty has filed a complaint with federal investigative agencies in India seeking a probe into two former top executives of his companies and two Indian banks related to a multibillion-dollar financial scandal engulfing his group.
Several companies linked to Shetty, including top United Arab Emirates hospital operator NMC Health PLC and payments firm Finablr PLC, have come under severe financial strain this year after short-seller Muddy Waters questioned NMC’s financials.
At issue, Muddy Waters said, were questions about NMC’s asset purchase prices and capital expenditures, which it said were both inflated.
NMC and Finablr subsequently announced far higher debts than they had previously reported.
Shetty’s 55-page complaint, a copy of which was seen by Reuters, accuses the former chief executives of NMC and Finablr, along with their associates and bankers, of inflating the companies’ balance sheets, arranging “illegal” credit facilities and misappropriating funds since 2012.
It calls on India’s federal police, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) – India’s financial crime fighting agency – to investigate.
The complaint, with more than 100 pages of supporting documents, indicates it was also sent to India’s prime minister’s office, central bank and other investigative agencies.
A spokesman for the two former CEOs, brothers Prasanth and Promoth Manghat, rejected Shetty’s allegations, saying he had significant control over the running of NMC after stepping aside as CEO in 2017 and that he or his family remained on the boards of companies including Finablr.
“These unfounded allegations against Prasanth Manghat and Promoth Manghat are a clumsy attempt to distract attention away from the skills and real value added by them to the success of NMC, Finablr ... and Shetty’s own role in what has taken place,” the spokesman said in an emailed statement.
Bank of Baroda and Federal Bank, the Indian lenders named in Shetty’s complaint, did not respond to Reuters request for comment.
The CBI, ED and prime minister’s office did not respond to requests for comment. India’s central bank declined to comment.
London’s High Court placed NMC into administration in April after it reported debts of $6.6 billion. UK-listed Finablr said in March it was preparing for potential insolvency and warned a month later it might have nearly $1 billion more in debt than previously reported.
In a news conference on Wednesday, NMC’s administrators Alvarez & Marsal said its investigation team was working with legal advisers to develop a strategy to recover losses, likely to be in the billions of dollars, and obtain compensation for damage incurred by NMC as a result of the alleged fraud.
Finablr’s CEO Bhairav Trivedi said last week the company continues to cooperate with all relevant authorities that are investigating potential wrongdoing by former management, advisers and bankers of the company.
Shetty, now in India and himself facing a criminal complaint in Abu Dhabi, is fighting court cases in India and Dubai as banks seek to recover loans from his companies. In April, the UAE central bank ordered banks to freeze accounts of Shetty and his family, sources said.
“We have submitted every shred of evidence into that complaint, which, if anybody examines, will clearly conclude that Dr. Shetty is innocent and that all of that has happened under his nose — unfortunately, behind his back,” Shetty’s lawyer Zulfiquar Memon of MZM Legal said.
Memon said the complaint was filed after a month-long internal investigation and the investigating agencies are examining the complaint.
BR Shetty seeks India probe of former NMC, Finablr CEOs over $6 billion scandal
https://arab.news/4mdxq
BR Shetty seeks India probe of former NMC, Finablr CEOs over $6 billion scandal
- Several companies linked to BR Shetty have come under severe financial strain this year
- NMC and Finablr subsequently announced far higher debts than they had previously reported
Kuwait PMI climbs to 54.5; Egypt falls to 48.9 in February: S&P Global
RIYADH: Kuwait’s non-oil private sector continued to expand in February, supported by growth in output and new orders, while business conditions in Egypt weakened, an economy tracker showed.
According to the latest Purchasing Managers’ Index surveys released by S&P Global, Kuwait’s PMI rose to 54.5 in February from 53 in January, extending the current run of improving business conditions to a year and a half.
The expansion in Kuwait’s non-oil sector aligns with a broader trend across the Gulf Cooperation Council region, where countries are pursuing diversification strategies to reduce reliance on crude revenues.
The surveys were conducted before regional tensions escalated following US and Israeli strikes on Iran and Tehran’s retaliatory attacks across the Gulf, which have since disrupted markets and energy trade.
Commenting on the February survey, Andrew Harker, economics director at S&P Global Market Intelligence, said: “Growth momentum strengthened in Kuwait’s non-oil private sector in February as companies were again successful in securing new business.”
According to the report, key factors supporting expansions in new orders and business activity included the provision of good-quality products at competitive prices and successful marketing efforts.
The rate of job creation was modest in February and unchanged from January.
Firms continued hiring staff for advertising and project-related work, resulting in a twelfth consecutive monthly increase in employment.
“The main issue facing firms at present is being able to grow workforce numbers quickly enough to keep up with workloads,” said Harker.
He added: “With backlogs rising at a fresh record pace for three months in a row now, fulfilling customer requirements in a timely manner is becoming more difficult, although companies did expand their purchasing activity at a near-record pace in February to help make sure the necessary materials are available going forward.”
Overall input cost inflation hit a nine-month high in February, with both purchase prices and staff costs rising at faster rates compared to January.
The report added that some companies increased their selling prices in response to higher input costs.
Regarding the outlook, companies expressed optimism, with sentiment reaching a 26-month high in February, driven by product variety, competitive pricing and good-quality customer service.
Egypt’s non-oil sector contracts
Egypt’s non-oil private sector contracted in February, driven by rising costs and softer demand, according to S&P Global.
The country’s PMI fell to 48.9 in February from 49.8 in January.
Although the reading remained below the 50 neutral threshold, it was still above its long-run average of 48.3, the report said.
Output declined for the first time in four months in February, and all five sub-components of the PMI indicated weaker business conditions compared to January.
“The February PMI data pointed to a slowdown in the Egyptian non-oil private sector as activity curtailed and new order volumes weakened,” said David Owen, senior economist at S&P Global Market Intelligence.
That said, he added that the dip followed an unusually strong run in business performance, and that the latest figures are consistent with annual GDP growth of approximately 4.5 percent.
Egyptian non-oil companies also reported a decline in order book volumes during the month.
Sales fell across manufacturing, wholesale and retail, and services, while construction was the only monitored sector where new orders improved.
Employment fell for the third consecutive month in February, though at a slower rate, as companies continued active job cuttings and hiring freezes.
The report revealed that cost pressures accelerated across the month, driven by rising global commodity prices, particularly oil and metals.
Selling prices, however, were up only fractionally, with just a small proportion of firms choosing to pass cost increases onto their customers.
“Egyptian non-oil companies were notably exposed to the uplift in global commodity prices, with firms emphasising the impact of higher prices for oil and metals, resulting in the sharpest increase in business costs for nine months and hitting margins at a time when firms are reluctant to raise their selling prices,” said Owen.
He concluded: “Firms will therefore be keen to see commodity markets settle, especially as recent periods of high input cost inflation have typically constrained business output.”
