A case of misuse and treachery by minion of B R Shetty
Enterprise is risky, bloody, and ruthless. The modern czar of the Middle East faced a situation wherein only a Bollywood movie script can depict the drama that unfolded in Dubai. The man travelled to Dubai when it was desert, set up a small business with his hard work and vision, and prospered to become a household name in India and the Middle East. Jealousy, business rivalry, and misunderstanding with the ruling elites resulted in a complete breakdown of his large business empire, so much so that he has to lose the entire asset base in UAE, the UK, and his own homeland. This is a disastrous story of Dr. Bavaguthu Raghuram Shetty (BRS/ B R Shetty).
Dr. Shetty is an Indian citizen having large-scale business operations in UAE. BRS founded NMC Health PLC and other group companies in the business of pharmaceutical, hospitality, healthcare, and foreign exchange and he resigned from the post of CEO of NMC in early 2017 and handed over the management of the companies to Prasanth Manghat, who was appointed as CEO of NMC after his resignation. BRS has an enviable reputation and he was awarded the highest civilian distinction in the Emirate, Abu Dhabi in the year 2005. BRS also received the Padma Shri award in India in 2009 for his valuable contribution in the field of Trade and Industry.
Prasanth Manghat joined Neopharma around 2003 and in 2011 joined NMC as its CFO. He was a Chartered Accountant and Auditor and as such was entrusted with managing the financial function, including treasury, corporate finance, and accounting and as such he had control over all the financial and operational decisions such as facilities, loans, spending, transfers, withdrawals and deposits of the company. From 2012 onwards the Manghat Brothers had full control of both the NMC and UAE Exchange and through their accomplices’ control over Neopharma and other group entities. Prasanth Manghat misused such control and influence over the entire group for illicit personal gains and in conspiracy with BOB (NY and UAE), CEB NV Netherland, EYGL & EYEL (Accounting Firm registered in England), Promoth Manghat (CEO of Finablr & authorized signatory of Nexgen – Group Companies), Suresh Kumar Vadakke Kootala (Head of Treasury for NMC & CFO Neopharma) and Suresh Kumar Nandiraju (CEO of Neopharma & Director Nexgen – Group Companies) committed fraud by creating fictitious invoices for products and supplies purportedly sold by group companies to NMC in order to generate inflated sales and revenue figures for NMC’s financial statements and ultimately to artificially prop up the share price.
In connivance with all the above, a substantial number of roundtripping transactions involving significant amounts of money in US dollar-denominated transactions were cleared through New York banks with the object to defraud BRS and lenders by giving the false impression that the business of the NMC and group companies was booming so that they can further procure sizable off-balance sheet loans for NMC and other group companies. The proceeds of these off-balance sheet loans were used to fraudulently portray healthy corporate revenue and assets so that they could obtain larger loans to pay off the earlier loans and perpetuate the Ponzi scheme going forward. As the scheme continued and became bigger the proceeds from these undisclosed and fraudulently obtained loans were siphoned off and disbursed amongst themselves.
The Manghat Brothers also forged the signatures of BRS on purported personal guarantees tied to the off-balance-sheet loans fraudulently procured by them. This Ponzi scheme fraud including the forged personal guarantee of BRS has caused massive financial and reputational loss to BRS. Due to these illegal activities, mismanagement, and misappropriation, the companies ran into financial irregularities leading to a default on loans taken from banks. As a result, Banks in India and UAE have initiated proceedings against the companies and BRS whose forged personal guaranties have been filed along with these forged loans. The BOB whose officials have been involved in this whole conspiracy and have facilitated the transactions in New York in contraventions of U.S. AML Laws has issued Look Out Circulars against BRS and he was denied permission to leave India when he wanted to go to UAE to tackle the proceedings initiated there and to bring back his lost business.
NMC was formerly the largest provider of health and well-being services in the Middle East. Until March 2020 NMC was a listed public company on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) and LSE’S coveted FTSE 100 Index. NMC was traded on the over-the-counter (OTC) in the United States. As a result of this massive fraud, NMC has been now delisted and is in Administration (bankruptcy) in England.
BRS has also initiated legal proceedings against these perpetrators of fraud, due to whose illegal actions BRS has to suffer and is being maligned on a day-to-day basis in UAE, India, and USA. As a result of the legal proceedings initiated by BSR, an FIR dated 21.01.2022 bearing No. 0112 of 2022 has been registered against the officials of the company namely Prashant Manghat, Promoth Manghat, and Suresh Kumar u/s 408/ 420/ 465/ 468/ 471/ 120 B/ 34 IPC. Further, ED and EOW have also taken cognizance against them and have started proceedings against them for the commission of the offenses.
On 16.07.2021, the Hon’ble Supreme Court of the State of New York County of New York has summoned the BOB (NY), CEB NV Netherland, EYGL & EYEL (Accounting Firm registered in England), Promoth Manghat (CEO of Finablr& authorized signatory of Nexgen – Group Companies), Suresh Kumar Vadakke Kootala (Head of Treasury for NMC & CFO Neopharma) and Suresh Kumar Nandiraju (CEO of Neopharma& Director Nexgen – Group Companies) on the Complaint filed by BRS, wherein BRS has prayed for damages of more than $8.0 billion on account of fraud and misappropriation committed by them.
However, Dr. Bavaguthu Raghuram Shetty has decided to face the challenge head-on, He has been taken aback by the most unexpected storm that struck to wipe off his hard work of decades but the 80-year-old man has the zeal to fight the battle against all odds. BRS is gearing up to fight perhaps the most challenging battle of his life, he is confident that he is having more friends than enemies to overcome hurdles. BRS is convinced that this is a decisive battle of his life, but he is assured of the victory because he believes that he has served the humanity by offering jobs, and security to lakhs of families hence their collective prayers and good wishes will ensure catching up the lost glory for that God has sent him on this planet.
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2. The views expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily represent or reflect the views of PGurus.
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Tell that to the shareholders of NMC Group and Finablr! Shetty is responsible for callous misuse of shareholder funds and his place is in jail not running freely!
B.R. Shetty is not so innocent. How he took the currency exchange business from a personal friend of mine in UAE was a shocking story.
B R Shetty and family are frauds. they must be arrested. He is trying to put the blame on others. But then why no arrests are made till now. If the manghat brothers are at fault why no action is taken?
Something went wrong either B R Shetty himself or his trusted people playing games for he built his business from scratch & knows how to control money, yet BRS was blind that illegal transactions ? BRS was then respected & honored by UAE rulers & had rare privileges. Time that he proves himself & Govt of India extends full support to get truth of this murky financial scams.
Financial scams / money laundering – are done in smart way & difficult to get digital trail of things (evidences) for such things are done in dark hours, acoustic proof walls….etc.
It is good for India & BRS if they can prove their innocence.