After its massive $10 billion merger with Sony Group was terminated, Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd (ZEEL) is once again under the scanner of the Securities and Exchanges Board of India (SEBI). In a latest probe, SEBI has uncovered a discrepancy of $241 million in Zee's accounts, reported Bloomberg.
SEBI has alleged that more than $241 million is missing from the Zee Entertainment accounts, with no proper transaction history shown for the amount, reported Bloomberg citing sources.
This comes a year after the Indian market regulator alleged that Zee Group's founders, Chairman Subhash Chandra and CEO Puneet Goenka, were actively involved in diverting company funds to the group's other listed entities and other firms related to its founding shareholders.
While Zee and the top leadership has repeatedly denied any financial wrongdoings, SEBI said that the missing amount was roughly 10 times higher than investigators had initially estimated. Further, the missing amount is not final and can be revised after the final calculations by SEBI.
On Tuesday, reports said that Zee is making another last-ditch attempt to save its merger with Sony Group by urging the company to restart discussions regarding the $10 billion merger. However, ZEEL clarified that these reports are false and the company is not in talks to renegotiate the merger.
"We would like to clarify that the Company has not been involved in any negotiations or any other event," said Zee Entertainment in a stock exchange filing.
Zee-Sony merger terminated
{{/usCountry}}"We would like to clarify that the Company has not been involved in any negotiations or any other event," said Zee Entertainment in a stock exchange filing.
Zee-Sony merger terminated
{{/usCountry}}Japan's Sony Group terminated a merger with Zee last month due to certain unresolved "closing conditions" and leadership disputes, including disagreements over Goenka's involvement in regulatory matters.
Sony terminated merger plans on January 22 saying in a statement that the decision was taken because "closing conditions" were not satisfied after two years of negotiations.
ZEEL denied all allegations made by Sony regarding financial discrepancies, and filed a petition in the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) in order to enforce Sony to adhere to the terms of the merger.
Zee issued a letter after the deal fell through, saying that the Sony merger was terminated “in bad faith”, and is “wrongful, bad in law”.
(With inputs from Bloomberg)