When did Suresh Prabhu resign from WIFSL ?

Sandesh Prabhudesai
5 July 1999 

When did union environment minister Suresh Prabhu resign from the Western India Finance Services Ltd, the controversial non-banking financial company he had floated, as the chairman as well as its director ?

Is it true that he had no connection with the WIFSL since May ’96, like what he claims, or was he continuing in the post till March ’97, as claimed by one of the investors ?

The judicial magistrate of Panaji is presently verifying the fact, in a criminal case pending against the banker-turned-politician and his director colleagues in an alleged cheating and fraud of Rs 120 million.

Prabhu, Goa’s son-in-law, is also facing another police enquiry filed in April this year by former MP Gopalrao Mayekar and few other investors. Unlike Kochi police, the Goa police however left out Prabhu while seeking non-bailable warrants against five other directors.

The new development however has puzzled the court. Prabhu’s counsel last month submitted documents, claiming that he had resigned from the WIFSL in May ’96, to be replaced by Rajpal Singh. But, unfortunately, the Registrar of Companies document he submitted, notifying his resignation, does not contain a signature, stamp or a date.

But Mayekar’s affidavit claims that Prabhu, along with other three directors, had resigned en mass in March ’97. He has certified copies of the Registrar of Companies to prove it, which is also duly signed and stamped by the concerned authorities.

Prabhu, along with Nandan Gadgil, Narendra Kumar and Brij Bhushan Nagpal, resigned en mass in utmost secrecy, he states, while appointing Yogeshkumar Tiwari as the new chairman and Shanti Bai as the director. Singh’s name does not figure there.

It appears that the sole union minister belonging to the Shiv Sena is trying to disown the responsibility of the investors’ cheques getting bounced in October ’96. “But I have certified documents to prove that he was the chairman that time”, states Mayekar.

The picture would be probably clear by 21 July, the next date of the court hearing.

While the court case, filed by the investors in March last year, is now slowly taking shape, the police investigations into Mayekar’s complaint filed this year are still moving at snails pace.

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