‘Will send former Ranbaxy promoters to jail if found guilty of contempt’: SC

New Delhi, Apr 05: The Supreme Court on Friday warned that former Ranbaxy promoters Malvinder Singh and Shivinder Singh would be jailed if they failed to clear the dues of Japanese firm Daiichi Sankyo.

The top court decided to go ahead with the contempt proceedings against them.

"We will go into the issue - why you violated our orders. We will send you to jail. We have given you a chance but you are unable to pay," the court said.

The top court said it would hear the contempt petition against ex-Ranbaxy promoters on April 11.

The apex court expressed its dissatisfaction over replies of the former Ranbaxy promoters on payment of Rs 3,500 crore arbitral award amount to a Japanese firm. The court has fixed April 11 as the next date of hearing on the contempt petition against the promoters.

"You may be owning half of the world but there is no concrete plan as to how the arbitral amount would be realised. You said that somebody owed you Rs 6,000 crore. But this is neither here nor there," the bench was quoted as saying by PTI.

Malvinder and Shivinder Singh have not paid up the Singaporean arbitration award of Rs 2,562 crore to Daiichi Sankyo.

In March, the Supreme Court had asked the two former Ranbaxy promoters to apprise it how they propose to comply with the arbitral award passed against them by a Singapore tribunal. Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi-headed bench of the court had asked the Singh brothers to consult their financial and legal advisors and give a concrete plan on how they will comply with the tribunal's order.