Setback for Shroff

The Supreme Court turned down the anticipatory bail application of manage­ment consul­tant and former Nagar­juna Fi­nance Limited (NFL) direc­tor Mi­noo Shroff and co director A. P. Ku­rian on April 24, 2009.

According to the CNBC TV18 website "these directors will have to apply for regular bail in a lower court… they will have to surrender to the respective court wherever the proceedings are taking place... But there are two good things out of this order for the petitioner. One is that Supreme Court has told the lower court to dispose off the regular bail hearing petition within the first day itself, which means if the order goes in their favour then they might not have to spend even one night in judicial or police custody.

"The second thing is (the) Supreme Court has also told lower court not to consider the views of High Court in the entire subject, while taking a call on the bail plea hearing.”

Earlier in the month the apex court had refused to quash criminal proceedings in the case against NFL director Nimesh Kampani.

Minoo Shroff: legal woes

"A bench comprising justices Altamas Kabir and Cyriac Joseph refused to quash the proceedings as it felt that an overwhelming number of investors were duped of their hard earned money, lifting the stay ordered on Kampani’s arrest by a bench headed by Chief Justice K. G. Balakrishnan on April 2,” noted The Times of India (TOI) of April 14, 2009.

"Kampani and other executives of the Hyderabad-based non-banking financial company were under investigation for the firm’s alleged failure to return around Rs 98.3 crore it collected from 85,160 depositors in 1997-98. Kampani approached the apex court after the AP High Court turned down his plea for anticipatory bail,” states the TOI report.

Around 94 complaints were filed under the Andhra Pradesh Protection of Depositors of Financial Establishment Act 1999. Kampani resigned on April 28, 1999 "much before the alleged defaults took place,” the paper cited Kampani’s submission.

"Kampani’s senior counsel Harish Salve said he was not in any way related to the functioning of NFL when he was charged with defaults,” the TOI noted. "There was no basis for the state government to issue red corner notice and declare him absconding, Salve said. Kampani said, ‘The controlling interest in the company and its related entities (commonly known in those parts as Nagarjuna group) was held by the K. S. Raju family.’”

Shroff, former chairman of the Bombay Parsi Punchayet (BPP) who is at presend abroad, was a non-executive director of NFL but resigned a year or so after Kampani, around 2001.

The WAPIZ (World Alliance of Parsi Irani Zarthoshtis) Page of January 23, 2009 had gloated over Shroff’s discomfiture in a write-up titled "Where is Ex-BPP chairman Minoo Shroff?” The box item noted the "grapevine informs us that he is unable to return to India. Why? Is it because there is a non-bailable warrant of arrest against him in respect of a company in which he was a director? Will Mr Shroff please clarify?”

Maharashtra had a similar act regarding non repayment of deposits but it was struck down by the Bombay High Court. If Shroff returns to India he would have to seek bail which may or may not be granted and fight an expensive and lengthy legal battle at the age of 80. For a man known for his moral and financial integrity, the setback could not have come at a worse time.