Former promoters responsible for financial absurdity of Fortis, says report

Mumbai: Former promoters of Fortis Healthcare Ltd, Malvinder Singh and Shivinder Singh, are the persons responsible for the financial absurdity of the company, according to the findings of law firm Luthra and Luthra, investigating the company's accounts, says report.

According to the findings from the investigation, Fortis Healthcare, which is in the process of finding a buyer, had extended unsecured loans to an extent of Rs 445 crore to three companies connected to the accused Singh brothers without the consent of the board. The management had also opposed the issuance of loans to the companies.

Ravi Rajagopal (63), a chartered accountant, who was a non executive independent director on the Fortis board, elected as chairman of the board recently, released the findings of the report on Wednesday, submitted by the law firm.

According to the findings of the law firm, Malvinder Singh and Shivinder Singh were the executive chairman and non executive vice chairman of Fortis Healthcare respectively, at the time of authorisation of the loans to the companies. They were either founder directors or held directorships in the companies receiving inter-corporate deposits from Fortis, and stepped down from the boards just before the loans were sanctioned, according to sources in the report.

Fortis Healthcare on Wednesday reported widening of its consolidated net loss to Rs 914.32 crore for the fourth quarter ended March 2018.

(With Agency Inputs)