Aggrieved GHCL Shareholders Gather Against Practices of GHCL Promoters

NEW DELHI - GHCL Forum Launches Website - www.ghclforum.org for Bringing Together Affected Shareholders and Raising Concerns

Misled by the promoters of the company and aggrieved at the perceived lack of transparency, a group of shareholders of GHCL have come together to form a Minority Shareholders Forum named GHCL Forum. GHCL Forum will represent the interests of the minority shareholders and retail investors of the company in front of the GHCL Promoters and management to safeguard their investments in the company and avoid being cheated by the promoters. The group has also launched a website www.ghclforum.org today where minority shareholders can log in to raise concerns and get updates on the progress by the forum.

Expressing concerns about promoters’ intentions, Mr. Ashish Begwani, Head of GHCL Forum said, “The recent SEBI findings have shocked us and we are worried about the future of not only our investments but also the fate of the company and its employees. We had placed our savings and trust in the company but the mounting losses and lack of transparency show an incompetent management trying to garner personal gains at shareholders expense.

“Through GHCL Forum, we want to assert our power as owners of the company to influence its behaviour, we are requesting for a change of auditors and restatement of the accounts of the company. We would also request Ministry of Corporate Affairs’ Serious Frauds Investigation Office (SFIO) to look into company’s business immediately as we are afraid that GHCL will go the Satyam way if the motives and actions of promoters are not checked immediately,” he added.

The following are the issues we want to highlight:

- Who are the internal auditors of GHCL subsidiaries? - Why is there a web of overseas subsidiaries and the reason for taking multilayer route to acquire overseas ventures? - Why have disclosures not been made to the India Stock Exchange as and when the acquired companies have gone bankrupt? - Have the promoters given personal guarantees to secure the loans from FIs? - What is the redefinition or reclassification of holdings being claimed by the management? Why are other companies not affected by this then? - Why Pramod Jain who raised voice against misgovernance was forced to quit the company’s board, depsite withdrawal of his resignation - What is the exact percentage of pledged shares as on date to Indiabulls?

It may be noted that acting on complaints, Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) had recently barred GHCL promoter Sanjay Dalmia, 46 promoter investment companies, and some members of senior management from trading in the stock market after investigations revealed that the company had filed false shareholding details. An interim order from SEBI stated that the company’s disclosures on promoter holdings for four quarters in 2008 are at significant variance with the actual holdings. In the last three quarters ending June, September and December 2008, the disclosure of promoter holdings was inflated by over 100 per cent.

For More Information, please contact: T. Anand Mahesh Mavcomm Consulting Pvt. Ltd. M. No.+91-93-5026-6285 E-Mail: anand@mavcommconsulting.com

Source: GHCL Forum

For More Information, please contact: T. Anand Mahesh, Mavcomm Consulting Pvt. Ltd., M. No.+91-93-5026-6285, E-Mail: anand at mavcommconsulting.com