Sunil Godhwani responsible for Fortis Group woes: Singh Brothers Issue Statement

New Delhi: Former promoters of Fortis Healthcare and Religare Malvinder Singh and Shivinder Singh blamed former Religare Enterprises Chairman and Managing Director Sunil Godhwani for the group's troubles.

"The Group's troubles today stem from the Group's association with Sunil Godhwani who had started his association in Religare as its CEO in 2001," Malvinder Singh and Shivinder Singh said in a joint statement.

Godhwani had stepped down as the chairman and MD in July 29, 2016. Subsequently, he assumed charge of the CEO in Religare Enterprises.

After the Ranbaxy sale closed in 2008, it was decided that Godhwani will lead our family office in addition to his role in Religare, and from 2008-end, he had full management control of RHC Holding and its subsidiaries, it added.

He was expected to be a responsible trustee and steward of the family's resources and consequently our reputation, the statement said.

"Godhwani used his position to conceive and orchestrate a series of transactions over the better part of a decade that led to our Group's debt load by 2016," it added.

It is clear that he used our trust in him to exercise undue influence and has taken advantage of the faith bestowed by both families, the statement said.

"We are sure (Gurinder Singh) Dhillon and his family would have had a similar expectation from Godhwani regarding management of their resources," it added.

Gurinder Singh Dhillon is the spiritual guru of the Radha Soami Satsang Beas (RSSB).

Bloomberg has reported that Sunil Godhwani is the follower of the spiritual group and was appointed to lead Religare at the recommendation of the spiritual guru, Gurinder Singh Dhillon. They say Godhwani was also in charge of their holding company, RHC Holding Pvt., and often took decisions without informing them. They say he was the architect of the financial structures, including the loans to the Dhillon family and companies, that led to their financial troubles.

Bloomberg News had been unable to independently verify the Singhs’ claims that Godhwani ran their holding company in the period between 2010 and 2016, when most of the major borrowing, loans, investments, and routing of funds occurred. RHC says he was president there between 2016 and 2017.

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