Indian court upholds travel ban on BR Shetty, founder of UAE’s NMC Health

An Indian court on Wednesday upheld the travel ban imposed on NMC Health founder BR Shetty, who has been embroiled in a dispute for months now.

Shetty had posted an appeal in the Maharastra court against a February ruling by the High Court in Karnataka.

He was reportedly stopped by immigration officials from boarding a flight to the UAE on November 14.

Read: BR Shetty plans ‘imminent’ return to the UAE to support investigation into NMC

“The findings recorded… are based on sound appreciation of facts and law,” the two-judge panel in the Mumbai court said, accoridng to a Reuters report.

“We are yet to examine the reasoned order in detail,” Shetty’s lawyer, Zulfiquar Memon, told the agency.

“However, there is no doubt that we will challenge it in the Supreme Court.”

London-listed NMC Health, which had a market value of $10bn at its peak, faced allegations of fraud after investigators discovered $4bn worth of undisclosed debt, bringing its total debt to over $6.6bn. The incident pushed NMC and its sister company Finablr into administration last year. Shetty has denied wrongdoing and claimed that he is a victim of fraud.

In February, it was reported that a court in London ordered a worldwide freezing order on the assets of BR Shetty as well as other senior former executives of the company.

The order was secured by NMC’s biggest creditor, Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank (ADCB), which has exposure of more than $1bn to the group, Financial Times reported.

The order was issued against six defendants including BR Shetty, NMC’s former CEO Prasanth Manghat, two senior financial officers as well as Emirati investors Khalifa al-Muhairi and Saeed al-Qebaisi.

Read: UK court orders asset freeze of NMC founder BR Shetty, other company executives