Year of the corporate jailbird: The six big felons who ruined the India Inc brand

‘Saharasri’ Subrata Roy: The Sahara head honcho was easily the biggest name from corporate India to find himself behind bars in 2014. He defiantly held out against the Supreme Court and Sebi over repaying investors Rs 20,000 crore, with newspaper advertisements and grand statements, but ended up with black ink thrown at him, being pulled up by the Supreme Court,  and ultimately in Tihar jail. Unfortunately for Roy, his get out of jail card wasn’t free and he had to deposit Rs 10,000 crore before he could finally leave. He pleaded ill health, and also managed to get a separate room in the Tihar jail to conduct negotiations but Roy just couldn’t convince the apex court to release him without paying the requisite amount. After unsuccessfully trying to sell its prized international hotels, the company has been selling land parcels across the country to raise bail but is still not close to reaching the magic figure. The Sahara chief may well be eating dhokla and butter milk while conducting business meetings in Tihar jail for quite a while longer.

Amway CEO William S Pinckney: Ok so he’s not Indian but the CEO of the direct selling company had a terrible year in the country, spending two months in jail after he was arrested by the Andhra Police in May under the Prize Chits and Money Circulation Schemes (Banning) Act (PCMCS). While it wasn’t the first time he was arrested (he was arrested a year earlier by the Kerala police in a similar case) it hasn’t hampered his faith in India in the slightest.  Pinckney has said that he wants to make India a hub for Amway to export to South Asia and the Middle East.

Syndicate Bank CMD SK Jain: This was the arrest that raised questions about the transparency of the functioning of public sector banks. Jain was arrested by the CBI on 2 August on the charge of taking Rs 50 lakh as kickbacks for increasing the credit limit of clients steel maker Bhushan Steel and Prakash Industries. While Jain was suspended initially, he was sacked a little over a month later on 23 September. While central bank governor Raghuram Rajan defended the functioning of chiefs of public sector banks, Jain’s arrest raised questions over just how the posts were filled and the influence of middle men in the appointments.

Bhushan Steel Vice Chairman Neeraj Singal: He managed to escape arrest initially and even apply for anticipatory bail but the Vice Chairman of steel maker Bhushan Steel was finally arrested by the CBI for attempting to bribe Syndicate Bank CMD SK Jain for improving his company’s credit rating after borrowing Rs 100 crore from the bank. He was also among those chided by the judge of a CBI court for sending ’love letters’ to her, a euphemism for the fact that the accused in the case had attempted to influence her. After being arrested on 7 August he was released on bail over a month later on 27 September. However, that wasn’t the end of his woes, as a consortium of banks that had given as much as Rs 40,000 crore in loans to the company decided to appoint three directors to the company’s board, conduct a forensic audit, get the company to sell its non-core assets and bring in more equity. The company is still afloat but has seen its stock value plummet since before Singal’s arrest. However the consortium of banks is now keeping an eye on every expense made by it.

FTIL co-founder Jignesh Shah: From founding Financial Technologies India (FTIL) in 1988 with two friends, Shah had risen to new peaks with the creation of new bourses like the MCX-SX and NSEL but it all unravelled for the entrepreneur this year with his arrest in May in connection with the Rs 5,600 crore NSEL scam case.  After being deemed unfit to run any exchange by the Forward Markets Commission last year, the Mumbai police arrested Shah and charged him with criminal misappropriation, conspiracy, and deceiving investors. After spending three months in jail, the Bombay High Court granted bail to Jignesh Shah on condition that he submitted two sureties worth Rs 5 lakh. He ended up having to sell his stake in the bourses that he had created and resigned as the MD of FTIL to become the non-executive post chairman emeritus.

Yash Birla group’s President of Corporate Affairs Anant Pathak: He wasn’t the biggest name of corporate India but his story was among the most fascinating. Pathak was arrested by the Narcotics Control Bureau in January for the possession of narcotics. He was President of Corporate Affairs and Communications when he was arrested with two other persons for possession of drugs, but this rise to the post was as mysterious as his past. While the Yash Birla group of companies claimed that he had a professional degree from an international institute, police claimed he didn’t have one at all. Reports said that the once aspiring actor had met Yash Birla either at a gym or spiritual session and impressed him enough to be appointed to the post. Fellow workers said he was often spaced out and didn’t really seem to fit in his job and had also managed to rub many the wrong way. Pathak was finally released on bail, but the incident hit the reputation of his former boss Yash Birla as well, whose financial woes worsened during the course of the year.