Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications
Thursday, Mar 27, 2003
Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications Thursday, Mar 27, 2003 |
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Courts/Legal Issues Money & Banking - Non-Performing Assets Court rejects BPL chief's plea to lift attachment of assets Our Bureau
BANGALORE, March 25 A TRIAL court has rejected a plea made by Mr T.P.G. Nambiar, the promoter-Chairman of the BPL Group, to lift a conditional attachment on the movable and immovable assets held by him, including shares in group companies, following a clutch of civil suits filed by creditors of BPL Sanyo Finance Ltd for recovery of dues. The 31st Additional City Civil Judge, Mr M.S. Balakrishna, stated there were no proper and just reasons to reverse the conditional attachment ordered last November and made it "absolute" till the pendency of the suits. The suits filed by Dastur Investments Ltd, MN Dastur & Co Pvt Ltd and Mehroo Minoo Dastur have sought recovery of approximately Rs 11 crore from BPL Sanyo Finance, a 50:50 joint venture between BPL Group and Japan's Sanyo Electric Company. Delivering the order, the Judge said: "The properties of Mr T.P.G. Nambiar came to be attached before judgment on account of his failure to furnish security. He is a non-resident Indian with a work permit to go abroad. On careful consideration of the circumstances of the case, the court finds that it is not just and proper to raise the attachment order passed against the defendant." The plaintiffs alleged that Mr Nambiar had become a non-resident Indian with effect from April 2002 and obtained work permit from BPL Eurotrade Plc, which is under his supervision. The Judge noted if all circumstances referred in the case are put together, the plaintiffs' apprehension seems to be "well founded". Mr Nambiar, in his counter affidavit to the court, had argued that he along with other defendants had never represented to the plaintiffs that they would be responsible for the money lent to BPL Sanyo Finance. He denied that the money referred in the plaint had been siphoned and utilised for the business activities of the other group companies. The court, however, refused to accept Mr Nambiar's argument that the order regarding the attachment of his assets before judgment has been obtained by the plaintiff on insufficient grounds. The initial court order restrains the promoters of the BPL group, Mr Nambiar and Mr Ajit Nambiar, from selling or disposing their movable and immovable properties during the pendency of the suits. This includes the shares held by Mr Nambiar in BPL Ltd, BPL Sanyo Utilities & Appliances Ltd, Nambiar International Investment Co Ltd, BPL Power Projects (Kerala) Pvt Ltd, BPL Power Projects (AP) Pvt Ltd and Phoenix Holdings Pvt Ltd. There is a similar restraint on the shares held by Mr Ajit Nambiar in BPL Ltd, BPL Engineering Ltd, BPL Telecom Ltd, BPL Communications Ltd, BPL Innovation Ltd, BPL Power Ventures Pvt Ltd, BPL Soft Energy Systems Ltd and Electronic Research Ltd. The immovable properties attached include the residential estates standing in the name of Mr Nambiar on Ali Askar Road and in Frazer Town in Bangalore, A 93,107-sq. ft. real estate investment at Kodihalli on Airport Road in the name of Kodi Properties and Finance, a partnership firm in which the defendant company, BPL Sanyo Finance, is a partner. The court has also attached Sanyo Electric Company Ltd's Indian assets, which include 15 lakh shares in BPL Sanyo Finance and 28 lakh shares in Sanyo LSI Technologies Pvt Ltd at Whitefield.
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