As part of its investigation Zee founded by, Securities and Exchange Board of India, or Sebi found that around Rs 20 billion ($241 million) may have been siphoned off from the company, said people familiar with the matter, who did not want to be identified as the information has not yet been made public. This is almost ten times more than the initial estimate SEBI investigators, the people said.
The amount found missing is not final and may change after Sebi reviews the responses of company officials, the people said. The regulator is calling senior officials including Zee Founders, Subhash Chandrahis son Punit Goenka He said that some members of the board will have to clarify their stand.
A SEBI representative did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comments. A Zee spokesperson declined to comment on the fund diversion, but said in an email that the company is in the process of providing all comments, information or clarifications requested by the markets regulator in the ongoing investigation.
SEBI’s latest findings have added to the woes of Goenka as the Zee CEO tries to reassure investors after the failure of his $10 billion merger plan with Sony. The two-year transaction was closed in January after a months-long standoff over who would lead the new entity.
The Economic Times reported on Tuesday that Zee is re-engaging with Sony to assess whether the merger can be revived but major differences remain, without specifying where it got the information.
a lot of conflict
Sony and Zee have been at loggerheads since mid-2023 due to a regulatory probe into alleged financial irregularities by the father-son duo. This made Sony wary of letting Goenka lead the merged entity, which Goenka refused to do as he was promised the CEO position in the 2021 merger agreement. The impasse eventually led Sony to cancel the deal in January.
Sebi, in an order in August, had barred Zee’s founders – Chandra and Goenka – from holding executive or director positions in any listed firm after it found that they had “abused their position” and “absorbed their gains”. For” the money was embezzled.
Zee appealed against the SEBI order to a higher appellate authority and got partial relief in October, allowing Goenka to continue in his executive position while the investigation continued.
The merger will help give Sony access to Zee’s deep library of content in regional Indian languages, while improving Zee’s financial position. Zee’s full-year profit fell 95% in the twelve months to March 31. It reported a profit of Rs 585.4 million for the quarter ended December 31, but missed analyst estimates.
The amount found missing is not final and may change after Sebi reviews the responses of company officials, the people said. The regulator is calling senior officials including Zee Founders, Subhash Chandrahis son Punit Goenka He said that some members of the board will have to clarify their stand.
A SEBI representative did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comments. A Zee spokesperson declined to comment on the fund diversion, but said in an email that the company is in the process of providing all comments, information or clarifications requested by the markets regulator in the ongoing investigation.
SEBI’s latest findings have added to the woes of Goenka as the Zee CEO tries to reassure investors after the failure of his $10 billion merger plan with Sony. The two-year transaction was closed in January after a months-long standoff over who would lead the new entity.
The Economic Times reported on Tuesday that Zee is re-engaging with Sony to assess whether the merger can be revived but major differences remain, without specifying where it got the information.
a lot of conflict
Sony and Zee have been at loggerheads since mid-2023 due to a regulatory probe into alleged financial irregularities by the father-son duo. This made Sony wary of letting Goenka lead the merged entity, which Goenka refused to do as he was promised the CEO position in the 2021 merger agreement. The impasse eventually led Sony to cancel the deal in January.
Sebi, in an order in August, had barred Zee’s founders – Chandra and Goenka – from holding executive or director positions in any listed firm after it found that they had “abused their position” and “absorbed their gains”. For” the money was embezzled.
Zee appealed against the SEBI order to a higher appellate authority and got partial relief in October, allowing Goenka to continue in his executive position while the investigation continued.
The merger will help give Sony access to Zee’s deep library of content in regional Indian languages, while improving Zee’s financial position. Zee’s full-year profit fell 95% in the twelve months to March 31. It reported a profit of Rs 585.4 million for the quarter ended December 31, but missed analyst estimates.
