Amazon has begun an investigation into allegations of corruption by its legal representatives in India and has placed a senior member of the team on leave, The Morning Context reported. The company later issued a statement, saying it does not tolerate corruption and will investigate all such allegations fully. The statement came in response to a report by The Morning Context, which said, citing three sources, that Amazon has begun an internal investigation into allegations that its legal representatives in India used legal fees paid by the company to pay bribes.
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In a rare plea, the chief judge at India’s bankruptcy appeals court petitioned the Supreme Court to let him work for three more days even after his term was cut short by the federal government, Bloomberg News reported. A.I.S. Cheema seeks three more days to enable him to give five verdicts and then retire, his lawyer told the Supreme Court Thursday. Cheema was, until last week, the acting chairman of the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal due to retire Sept. 20, before the government abruptly named his replacement and cut short his term.
In yet another setback for Vedanta's plans to acquire debt-ridden Videocon Industries, lenders which had agreed to Twin Star Technologies' (TST) resolution plan want to reconsider it, citing up to 95% haircuts, Times Now News reported. National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) has sought a reply from Vedanta's subsidiary TST on a request by a Bank of Maharashtra-led Committee of Creditors (CoC), which wants a fresh round of bidding for the resolution plan. NCLAT will consider CoC's request alleging low payout on Sept. 27 as TST sought time to reply.
The committee of creditors of Vasan Health Care Pvt. Ltd and the resolution professional, S. Rajendran, have gone on appeal before the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) against the order rejecting extension of time frame under the insolvency process, The Hindu reported. Last month, the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) said that the corporate insolvency resolution process for Vasan Health Care Pvt.
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India’s largest conglomerate the Tata Group has submitted a financial bid for state-run Air India Ltd. as the government tries to sell the money-losing carrier after two failed attempts, Bloomberg News reported. The bid was entered Wednesday by Tata Sons Ltd., the group holding company, which controls Jaguar Land Rover and owns a majority stake in AirAsia India, according to a Tata spokesperson. The bid has boosted prospects for the sale after the government sweetened the deal by allowing suitors to decide how much of the carrier’s debt they want to take on.
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Banks led by State Bank of India (SBI) have called on the Indian government to give debt-laden Vodafone Idea more time to clear its tax dues and spectrum fees, Reuters reported. An Indian court last year ordered the mobile carrier, a joint venture between the Indian unit of Britain’s Vodafone Group and Aditya Birla Group’s Idea Cellular, to pay just over $8 billion to the government to settle long-standing dues. Vodafone has a stake of about 44% in the company and Aditya Birla owns nearly 27%.
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The new owners of Jet Airways have deferred the commencement of its operations for the fourth time in a year, even as the airline continues to be trapped in legal wrangles with lenders and employees, the Economic Times of India reported. Jet stopped operating in April 2019, burdened under piling losses, debt and dues. It was admitted for insolvency proceedings by the National Company Law Tribunal in June 2019.
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The Indian Supreme Court on Monday said that 330 days deadline for resolution plan has to be strictly adhered to and NCLT and NCLAT must decide insolvency and bankruptcy matters keeping in mind the sanctity of the deadline provided by legislature. A SC bench headed, by Justice D Y Chandrachud, said that earlier bankruptcy code failed mainly because of long delays in litigation in judicial forums and promised that the present IBC will not be allowed to meet the same fate.
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Reliance Infrastructure Ltd. won a four-year battle for control of money from an arbitration award that it says it needs to repay lenders, Bloomberg News reported. A two-judge panel of the Indian Supreme Court on Thursday upheld the 2017 arbitration award in favor of the Anil Ambani’s unit. The arbitration tribunal award is worth over 46.6 billion rupees ($632 million) including interest, according to Reliance Infrastructure’s annual report. Reliance Infrastructure Ltd. won a four-year battle for control of money from an arbitration award that it says it needs to repay lenders.
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The pandemic and a shortage of members in the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) has slowed insolvency resolution by over 45% with cases taking nearly 593 days during the June quarter, latest data showed, the Times of India reported. As of March-end, it took 408 days from the insolvency commencement date to the approval of the resolution. A thrust of the law was to provide for a time-bound resolution — ideally within 180 days, which could be extended by another 90 days.
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