‘Repetitive probe’ in Yes Bank case may impact merger with Sony: Zee to SEBI

Zee has reportedly written to the Securities and Exchange Board of India that “continuous and repetitive” investigations – in a case pertaining to an alleged Yes Bank fund diversion – may impact its merger with Sony.

"Please note that the said merger is at an advanced stage…it is beyond our comprehension as to why the present matter is being re-investigating/re-examining, when the cause of action pertaining to the matter is around four years old,” Zee said in its letter to SEBI, as reported by Business Today.

This comes days after the market regulator barred Essel Group chairman Subhash Chandra and his son, Zee Entertainment Enterprises Limited CEO Punit Goenka, from holding directorial or key managerial positions in any listed company or its subsidiaries over their role in the alleged fund diversion case. 

In an interim order on June 13, SEBI had said that Chandra and Goenka abused their position by “siphoning off funds for their own benefit.” Read about it here.

However, in its letter, Zee said that the company was “never privy” to the loan arrangements between “the borrower entities and Yes Bank or the loan amount involved” and there was “no privity of contract” between the Yes Bank, Zee, and the borrowing entities. It further said that the misappropriation of Zee’s FD was a “result of the unilateral action of YBL without any action on part of the Zee”.

A series of developments over the last few years has spiraled into the collapse of Subhash Chandra’s media empire. Among India’s few media moguls, he has spent the past years repaying debts. But how did he get here? Read it here.