New Delhi: The embattled Amrapali Group “illegally diverted” money from homebuyers to Rhiti Sports Management Private Limited, a company in which cricketer M.S. Dhoni has substantial stakes.
In its verdict Tuesday cancelling the RERA registration of the Amrapali Group, a division bench led by Justice Arun Mishra noted that Rhiti Sports entered into “sham agreements” with the Amrapali Group only to illegally receive the money.
The verdict, which also tasked the National Buildings Construction Corporation to complete Amrapali’s unfinished projects, came as a huge relief to over 49,000 homebuyers.
The forensic auditors in the case, Pawan Kumar Aggarwal and Ravinder Bhatia, informed the court that Amrapali not only entered into “sham” agreements with Rhiti Sports but also with Amrapali Mahi Developers Private Limited, in which Dhoni’s wife Sakshi is the director. Dhoni was the brand ambassador of Amrapali Mahi until 2016 when he withdrew after protests by homebuyers intensified.
The “sham” agreements related to Dhoni endorsing the Amrapali Group and also financial transactions with Amrapali Mahi and Rhiti Sports.
Relying on the forensic report, the Supreme Court said the group had paid Rhiti Sports Rs 42.22 crore between 2009 and 2015. The court, however, singled out Rs 6 crore that was paid to Rhiti Sports by Amrapali Sapphire Developers Private Limited as being an illegal transaction involving homebuyers money. The forensic report further said Amrapali Mahi received share capital in cash and all its expenses were also paid in cash.
The court has now directed authorities to recover the diverted funds from Rhiti Sports.
“We feel that homebuyers 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 does not stand the test of law,” the court said.
On Wednesday evening, Rhiti Sports told ThePrint that the observations made in the forensic report were “incorrect”.
It dismissed the charges of money being “illegally diverted” to the company, saying that “the question of siphoning funds does not arise” as it had 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”.
Rhiti Sports also claimed it has over “40 crore” due from the Amrapali Group and had moved the Supreme Court for its recovery in 2018. This plea, it claimed, was heard before the “forensic auditors were even appointed”.
Also read: How Amrapali cheated 49,000 homebuyers, according to Supreme Court
‘The sham agreement’
According to the verdict, the Rs 6 crore was illegally diverted to Rhiti Sports by Anil Kumar Sharma, the chief managing director (CMD), for and on behalf of the Amrapali Group. But, the court noted, there was “no resolution on record authorising Sharma to enter into an agreement on behalf of all Amrapali Group of Companies”.
This helped the court to discover that these agreements with Rhiti Sports were “on plain paper” and that “there were no signatories on behalf of Chennai Super Kings to this agreement. No Resolution was in favour of Arun Pandey, Signatory of Rhiti Sports Management Private Limited”, as was stated in the agreement.
This led the court to believe that these were “sham agreements” that were entered into “only to make payments to Rhiti Sports Management Private Limited”.
On the question of entering into “sham” agreements with Sharma, Rhiti Sport said it was “not asked to provide any documents or information with respect to the authority of Sharma”.
Also read: The rise & fall of Amrapali, from real estate giant to company struggling to pay its dues
Dhoni’s finances must be thoroughly probed by appropriate investigating agencies. His employment contract with Srinivasan’s India Cement and financial dealings must also be scrutinized.