Fortis spat: Shivinder Singh says filing lawsuit against Malvinder, Sunil Godhwani was 'long overdue'; full text of letter

Mumbai: The spat between the Singh brothers – Malvinder, Shivinder, who are also co-promoters of the beleagured Fortis Health Care has come out in the open. Firstpost has received the three-page letter Shivinder Singh has written stating reasons for filing a lawsuit against older brother Malvinder Singh. In the letter, he alleges “oppression and mismanagement” at their joint businesses. Here is the full text of the letter: This release comes in the aftermath of the legal and financial issues surrounding our joint companies. For two decades now, Malvinder and I Shivinder Mohan Singh have been synonymous with one another. Though the fact is, I have all along been the publicly supportive younger brother to Malvinder’s Chairmanship of the group, who took decisions on behalf of the family. My focus and passion has always and solely been Fortis Healthcare since its inception. It is the only company I have worked for and all my intent and resources have been in nurturing this company. The concept of helping people in need and walking the talk of Fortis’ vision: “saving and enriching lives” has been the hallmark, as I served Fortis for almost two decades. I took public retirement to my Spiritual home, Beas to serve my Master, in 2015; leaving the thriving company I founded in ‘trusted’ hands and in a period of less than two years, it has moved towards disintegration and ruin of a national healthcare asset. While the group businesses were in “Competent” hands, red flags have crept up in the group with disturbing regularity. Decisions taken in Religare’s NBFC arm; the transaction and subsequent management of the sale of the group’s then flagship – Ranbaxy to Daiichi, culminating in one of the most damaging Arbitration cases in the history of India Inc., the unimaginable losses accumulated in running a private charter airline business (Ligare aviation), all these only go to show that the malaise is systemic. [caption id=“attachment_5119121” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Shivinder Singh (l), Managing Director of Fortis Healthcare, and Chairman Malvinder Singh. Reuters[/caption] Sensitivity to the family business’ reputation has refrained me from making any public or private statements despite my family’s and my personal trauma. My family reputation kept me a silent spectator, as I mutely watched the organisation I founded come to a point where it was publicly auctioned; where my family and myself have been stripped of our legacy, our finances and my personal credibility. Despite my best efforts, on my return from Beas for the past many months to salvage the situation, the continued systemic missteps resulted in a quicksand which now seems beyond resolution, if I continue to remain silent. Recent planted media articles attempting to foist the responsibility of poor decisions taken, to an elder in the family who always stood by us as a father-figure ever since the premature demise of our father; has compelled me to break my silence. Attempts to pass the buck to an eminent figure, who has been a guiding light not only to our family but also to a large section of the public, deceives no one. I have filed a case against Malvinder and Sunil Godhwani in the NCLT for oppression and mismanagement of RHC Holding, Religare and Fortis. This action was long overdue but got delayed in the fond hope that better sense shall eventually prevail and another ugly chapter of family feud would not be written in our family business’ glorious history. However, the unpleasant events finding narration in the petition go fundamentally against my grain. The collective, ongoing, actions of Malvinder and Sunil Godhwani led to a systematic undermining of the interests of the companies and their shareholders mentioned above as also the committed and loyal employees of the group. While the group businesses were in “Competent” hands, red flags have crept up in the group with disturbing regularity. Decisions taken in Religare’s NBFC arm; the transaction and subsequent management of the sale of the group’s then flagship – Ranbaxy to Daiichi, culminating in one of the most damaging Arbitration cases in the history of India Inc., the unimaginable losses accumulated in running a private charter airline business (Ligare aviation), all these only go to show that the malaise is systemic. While it saddens me immensely and I wish Malvinder well; I can no longer be party to activities in which transparency and ethics are continuously and consistently negated. It has come to a point where this means that I am now disassociating from my brother as a business partner and will be pursuing an independent path going forward. Shivinder Singh September 04, 2018