“Things are getting out of hand. You can’t take the court for a ride” Delhi HC to Singh brothers

The Delhi High Court yesterday directed former Fortis Healthcare group promoters Malvinder Mohan Singh and Shivinder Mohan Singh to be present in court on the next date of hearing.

The single judge bench of Justice Rajiv Shakdher was hearing an application moved by Daiichi Sankyo seeking a stay on Fortis Healthcare Limited’s stake sale to IHH Healthcare.

The application is part of the execution proceedings initiated by Daiichi Sankyo against Singh brothers and twelve others for recovery of Rs. 3500 crore arbitral award in its favour.

Directing personal appearance of the Singh brothers, Justice Rajiv Shakdher remarked,

“Things are getting out of hand. You can’t take the court for a ride.

The judgment debtors will have to cough up the arbitration award by any means or go behind bars.” 

It is Daiichi Sankyo’s stand that the stake sale should not be allowed as it would adversely affect the recovery of their claim from the Singh Brothers and other judgment debtors.

Senior Advocate Arvind Nigam appearing for the Japanese drug-maker suggested that the transaction between Fortis Healthcare and IHH Healthcare could be given a go-ahead if the money owed to Daiichi is deposited in an escrow account.

Meanwhile, the Court asked the Singh brothers, RHC Holding Pvt Ltd as well as Oscar Investments Ltd to file a reply to Daiichi Sankyo’s plea within one week.

On January 31 this year, Justice Jayant Nath of the Delhi high court had upheld the enforceability of the Rs. 3500 crore award passed by a Singapore tribunal in Daiichi Sankyo’s favour.

The arbitral award had found the Singh brothers and others guilty of several misconducts when Daiichi bought their 34.82% stake for $2.4 billion in 2008. The Singh brothers and twelve others were found to have made false claims in a self-assessment report, along with misrepresenting the genesis, nature, and severity of the US regulatory investigations into Ranbaxy.

The Singh Brothers are represented by Advocate Anuradha Dutt of DMD Advocates.

Fortis Healthcare Limited was represented by Senior Advocate Sanjay Jain and C.S Vaidyanathan.

The matter would be next heard on August 10.

Read the Order