Another twist in Agri Gold case

In an another twist in the scam-hit Agri Gold case, the Subhash Chandra Foundation of Essel-Zee group filed a miscellaneous petition before the Court on Tuesday stating that it had decided not to take over the properties of Agri Gold group of companies since there was no cooperation from the governments of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana and the company management. It urged the court to permit it for withdrawal of `10 crore it had deposited earlier for having due diligence exercise to take over the company.A division bench comprising justices V Ramasubramanian and SV Bhatt is dealing with a batch of petitions filed by the Telangana Agri Gold customers and agents welfare association and others seeking a CBI probe into the Agri Gold scam and return of the depositors’ money. 

Earlier, the foundation had come forward to take over the companies’ properties, including those attached by the CID of AP and Telangana states, by paying `4,000 crore in four years and to pay back the depositors’ money in a phased manner within that period. With the permission of the court, it also took up due diligence exercise on the assets of Agri Gold.

But the AP government rejected the proposal saying that it was difficult to believe the intervener (Subhash Chandra Foundation)  which was seeking to enter the shoes of the state government through the approval of the court on the promise of repaying all the depositors slab-wise over the said period. Now the foundation has decided to retracts from its earlier proposal.

The foundation, represented by its authorised representative Piyuth Razgariya, in its miscellaneous petition, submitted that it had spent `40 crore so far on due diligence exercise in addition to the `10 crore deposit. However, with a heavy heart, it decided to go back on its earlier proposal to take over the company. The AP and TS governments and the Agri Gold management rejected the proposal and refused to cooperate. Even the petitioners said they would agree to the proposal with certain conditions, it said. 

The company management claimed that the properties were valued at about `25,000 crore but were worth only between `1,600 crore and `2,200 crore, it was found during due diligence exercise. Besides, the income tax department was seeking payment of taxes owed by the company. Because of these reasons it was decided to go back on the proposal to take over the company, it explained.