Is the Country Club man preparing to show ‘Thenga’? Employees trigger warning bell

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Is the Country Club man preparing to show 'Thenga'? Employees trigger warning bell

Hyderabad: In a wave of bankruptcy in India, Country Club employees trigger an alarm when they accuses the hospitality giant of not paying salaries. Few former employees claimed that the company failed to pay their salaries for almost a year now and sent a letter signed by five former employees — Lata Jadhav, Vivek Shirol, Shashi Kumar Naidu, Sumit Chimmure, and A Deepak to KTR stating their plight over the company’s failure to pay their salaries.

The letter reads, “Since 2007 and 2011, we are working with this company. We have not received our salary since April 2017. We tried to meet CMD Rajiv Reddy and his two sons, Varun Reddy and Siddarth Reddy, who are CEO and MD of Country Vacation, but their security is not allowing us to meet them and submit our representation.”

Famous for his thumb-toting pictures in the advertisements and news Rajeev Reddy have resorts in close to 50 locations, some of them in Dubai and Sri​ ​Lanka too​.

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According to a report published in Sify.com, there is a fear that the billions made by the club and its promoter Reddy built since 1989 could tumble at anytime with the allegation of the Employees and lenders may also claim their dues. Report quotes the public data available available on the M​inistry of ​C​orporate​ A​ffairs​ portal which reveals that Country Club has several ​outstanding​s​ against its name​. According to this data, creditors have lent Country Club Hospitality Pvt Ltd close to Rs 702.89 crores. Of this, ​outstandings​ ​of​ Rs 522.40 crores are still shown as open, while the remainder of Rs 180.48 crores is categorized as closed. Lenders to the company include Saraswat Bank, Union Bank of India, Oriental Bank of Commerce, Ratnakar Bank Limited etc.

Picture courtesy: Sify.com

The report further present a chart of BSE trends that also narrates a sagging business. The company posted revenues of Rs 2603.88 million in 2017. Four years ago in 2013 revenues stood at 3187.39 million. The company’s profits in the same period have slipped from Rs 168.7 million crores in 2013 to a loss of Rs 149.11 million in 2017.

Picture courtesy: Sify.com

The letter written by the employees even alleges that the company did not release the amount even when (one of the signatories) Shashi Kumar Naidu’s father was admitted to the ICU of a hospital after going into a coma, and he needed the money for treatment.

“We lost his father. He literally cried and begged for his salary amount to utilise that money for the funeral, but was not given a single penny,” the letter claims.

It goes on to add, “Our CMD and his two sons are always taking your name saying that they are very close to you and your father Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao and we poor employees can’t do anything even if he denied our salary.”

“We are on the verge of begging on the roads as it is our only source of income. We even stopped schooling of our children cos we can’t pay the fees,” the letter adds.

As a last step, the employees said that they would be forced to kill themselves in front of the Country Club office.

31 fugitive business people facing CBI probe

Diamond traders Nirav Modi, Mehul Choksi, Jatin Mehta and embattled liquor baron Vijay Mallya are among 31 business people facing a CBI investigation who are fugitives abroad. The names of the absconding business people were provided by Minister of State for External Affairs M J Akbar.

Modi and Choksi are the key accused in the Rs 120-billion PNB scam. Also on the list is Nirav Modi’s wife, Ami.

Among the others named are Vijaykumar Revabhai Patel, Sunil Ramesh Rupani, Pushpesh Kumar Baid, Surender Singh, Angad Singh, Harsahib Singh, Harleen Kaur, Ashish Jobanputra, Neeshal Modi, Chetan Jayantilal Sandesara and Dipti Chetan Sandesara, Akbar said.

The minister added that the others who had absconded and were living abroad were Nitin Jayantilal Sandesara, Sabhya Seth, Nilesh Parrekh Umesh Parekh, Sunny Kalra, Aarti Kalra, Sanjay Kalra, Varsha Kalra, Hemant Gandhi, Ishwarbhai Bhat, MG Chandrasakhar, Cheriya Vannarakkal Sudeer, Nausha Kadeejath and Cheriya Veettil Sadique.

The Ministry of External Affairs had received extradition requests from the CBI in respect of Mallya, Jobanputra, Baid, Sanjay Kalra, Varsha Kalra and Aarti Kalra which had been sent to the concerned foreign countries for their consideration, he said.

Twelve people who had left the country were also under investigation by the Enforcement Directorate, he added.

Apart from Mallya, Jatin Mehta, Nirav Modi, Mehul Choksi, Ritesh Jain, the list included Lalit Modi, Sanjay Bhandari, Nitin Jayantilal Sandesara, Chetan Jayantilal Sandesara, Dharminder Singh Anand, Ashish Jobanputra and Priti Jobanputra.

To another question, Akbar’s collegue in the External Affairs Ministry, V K Singh, said 16 extradition requests from India were pending with the British Government.

Siasat Web Team