Rhiti Group, where Dhoni has major stakes, says it received legitimate money from Amrapali group.
Just a day after MS Dhoni grabbed the headlines over his alleged links to the controversial real estate Amrapali Group, Rhiti Group, a firm associated to the veteran wicketkeeper batsman, has dismissed the claims of any unlawful activity.
On Tuesday (July 23), Dhoni and his better half Sakshi came under the limelight when the Supreme Court asked state-run builder NBCC to take over all incomplete housing projects of Amrapali Group and finish them in a time-bound manner.
In a shocking revelation made to the Supreme Court by forensic auditors Pawan Kumar Aggarwal and Ravinder Bhatia, it has come to notice that Amrapali entered into "sham" agreements with Rhiti Sports Management Private Limited and Amrapali Mahi Developers Private Limited.
It is pertinent to mention here that Dhoni has major stakes in Rhiti while Sakshi is a director of Amrapali Mahi Developers Private Limited.
Amid the controversy, Rhiti Sports on Wednesday (July 24) issued a statement to Outlook which is cited below:
Rhiti Group, in light of various news articles, would like to clarify following aspects, in relation to the Forensic Auditor’s report and reports of various media houses in the matter of Amrapali.
With utmost respect to the orders of the Apex Court, We would only like to clarify that the observations mentioned in forensic report (only)are bereft of proper information or relevant documents. The company has been in possession of all information and relevant documents that can establish the clean image and that the observations made in the said report are incorrect.
It is pertinent to mention that Rhiti has been an endorsement agency for world class talent and was retained by Amrapali Group due to its fair and transparent business dealings since 2009. The question of siphoning funds does not arise because Rhiti provided all professional services as per the agreements and the then pre-agreed endorsement fee received from Amrapali was paid to relevant endorsing stars and celebrities.
To the contrary, in fact, we have legitimate business claims of approximately Rs 40 Crore against Amrapali group and towards the recovery of the same, we are before Hon’ble Supreme Court vide our IA No 125854/2018 dated 02.09.2018 which was allowed for impleadment by Hon’ble Supreme Court and we are also before Hon’ble High Court of Delhi since March 2018 for recovery of our dues (vide our Arb Application No Arb Pet No 189-191/2018).
It is pertinent to note that both the proceedings were instituted before the forensic auditors were even appointed.
Additionally, Rhiti clarifies that it was entirely cooperative during the forensic audit and furnished all sought information / documents that were required during the audit.
Rhiti further states that it was neither asked to provide any further documents or information nor the issues raised in the report like authority of Mr Anil Sharma(CMD, Amrapali) or authorized signatory of Rhiti were ever raised to us to enable us to satisfy the said auditors.
We are currently seeking legal advice and would accordingly take further steps, if so advised.
Amrapali Mahi Developers Private Limited has not responded on the controversy yet.
Incidentally, Dhoni was also a brand ambassador of Amrapali till he withdrew in April 2016 because of pressure from thousands of disappointed homebuyers.
“We feel that Home Buyers money has been diverted illegally and wrongly to Rhiti Sports Management Private Limited and should be recovered from them as the said Agreement in our opinion do not stand the test of Law,” said the forensic audit report that the Supreme Court bench of Justices Arun Mishra and U U Lalit reproduced in its judgment on July 23.
The report also indicated that Amrapali Media Vision Private Limited “was created to divert funds to make movies. Rhiti Sports Management Private Limited was paid Rs. 24 crores for professional charges and advertisement expenses etc.”
According to the audit report, Rhiti received a total of Rs 42.22 crores from Amrapali group between 2009-2015 and out of this Amrapali Sapphire Developers Private Limited has paid a sum of Rs. 6.52 Crores. It is unclear on what basis Rhiti got such large sums of money.
(With inputs from outlookindia.com)